


Dungeons and Darkners: a crossover fic of three Frisks.

by TooManyJays



Series: Non-canon fluff stuff from Shattering AU [1]
Category: Deltarune (Video Game), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: All characters are Frisk, Child Frisk (Undertale), Female Frisk (Undertale), Gen, Male Frisk (Undertale), Teenage Frisk (Undertale), as in dungeons and dragons esque, everyone sucks at it though, like literal roleplaying, not kinky roleplaying, roleplaying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-01-13 17:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21183278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TooManyJays/pseuds/TooManyJays
Summary: Three Frisks from different universes find themselves in a strange room that defies all logic and reason with no memories of how they got there and why. Logically, they decide it's best to play an RPG, which takes on a familiar turn.Frisk Bergman(Emmet) belongs to Killb94 on DAFrisk Kikiyama(Bambi) belongs to Katelynntheg on DA and Tumblr.Older Frisk(Francisca) belongs to me.





	1. Prologue

**Dungeons and Darkners**

**Part 1: Prologue**

If the children in the room could ask one thing, “where?” was not the only valid question any of them could pick, even if it was almost all of the time the first one to pop into anyone's head in these kinds of situations. “When?” could've sufficed as well. Same with “how?” or “why?”. You could even sneak in a few “what?” in there as well if you were curious enough.

But if any of the three children would’ve asked each other “who?” at this moment in time, they would undoubtedly get the most surprising, yet confusing answers, for, besides their sweater, t-shirt or hoodie uncannily sharing the same exact pattern and colour scheme, that is a blue and pink stripe, you could barely guess the children had any connection in the first place.

The youngest one of them was just practically a toddler and unmistakably Asian, with a large, curious smile on her face of a naive and lighthearted kid and wore a long-sleeved t-shirt with the aforementioned pattern. She had darkish skin, long, fluffy brown hair that seemed to not care about being one bit clean and incredibly thick eyebrows. She sat near the centre of the strange room like she was a young leader of the other two. 

To her left was a young boy, the only boy in the room. He was slightly older than the girl in the centre, yet still clearly a kid who looked to be around the age of ten. His face was clearly nordic and seemed to express immense shyness, and his skin was unusually yellow. He wore a wool sweater with strangely enough the same pattern as the last girl and had a bowl haircut, an indicator of someone who lived in a mostly fine and polite household.

And opposite the young boy stood the last one of the small group. It was an older girl of a mixed-race, part Hispanic and part Asian, and with long dark hair that complemented her brownish skin. She was in fact barely a kid like the other two, being in her late teens and much closer to being an adult. Her clothing consisted of dirty, torn blue jeans, black boots and a hoodie with the exact same colour scheme as the last two. From her expression, she seemed to indicate confusion, yet intrigue, in a way like she wasn’t sure what was happening but had accepted the situation as is.

In short, besides the aforementioned matching outfits, they all looked like complete, unrelated strangers at first glance. But as the trio would soon realize, that despite being from completely different ethnicity and backgrounds, they were all very close in a cosmic sense of things. In fact, they were perhaps, unknowingly, more close to each other than any family member from their own worlds.

At the moment, the three children found themselves standing alone together in a strange room that gave out no sound or stir. In front of the trio stood the only object in the room, and it was what they could only tell was a circular table. Or was it square-shaped? Or triangular? Strangely enough, despite all of them standing straight in front of it, no-one could tell what shape it was for certain. Not because it was formed or built weird, but because it seemed to break any natural laws at will. From one perspective, they were just a few feet apart and could whisper easily to one another, and if they weren’t looking at it, their arms could reach the end of the table without much difficulty. But somehow, if you put almost all of your focus and thoughts on just the table it seemed to stretch, and stretch to the point it was much, much larger than the room they were in. 

Whatever was up with it, the trio of kids found themselves somehow unable to care for its strangeness. They all gave some thoughts to it, but none of them was particularly bothered by it as if this cosmic table was just the most average thing in the world.

As they all pondered their strange situation, the younger girl gave out a small cough for attention and the other two stopped with all their ponderings and theory crafting and turned to her. The boy watched her nervously, while the older girl watched in excitement as the little one began to speak.

“Heroes,” the young girl began, sounding as authoritative as she could for what was pretty much a toddler. “You’ve been brought here for a good reason, for you are now the heroes of an epic quest. A quest for magic and light and dark. Now, before we begin.”

She picked up a few dozen dices from her pockets and threw them onto the table.

“Roll your classes!” she said excitedly.

“Wait, roll our classes?” the older girl said and grinned in confusion. “No offence, but I don’t think that is how it works?” 

“Umm does here,” the young, Asian girl said shily. 

“Alright kiddo,” the older one began, trying as hard as she could to sound nice. “It’s nice that you are trying your own things here, but the rules say that we aren’t supposed to pick our classes randomly like that. We pick a class and race and then we roll our stats on a bunch of, y’know, bonus stuff.”

Out of the three of them, the boy seemed to be the first to have the sense that something was the matter.

“Hey umm… what's going on?” he asked nervously.

“But I like it better when it’s like this” the young girl said, clearly not noticing the boy or his concern.

“Alright, you might prefer it like this but some of us like it better when we follow the rules ok?” the older girl said, trying to sound as gently as she could to someone much younger than her.

“No seriously,” the boy said, starting to sound scared. “Who are you people and w-where am I?”

“Hey, can you relax boy?” the older girl said, giving him some finally needed attention. “We are trying to start a role-playing game here or something.”

“More specifically,” the young girl began. “We’re playing Dungeons and Darkners.”

“Dungeons and Darkners?” the older girl said and chuckled. “Don’t you mean-”

“It’s a version I made myself,” the young one said. “I’ve played it a lot before.”

“Oh, so it’s homebrew or whatever,” the older girl said. “Sorry, don’t really know the exact term for it. Anyway, why didn’t you tell us at the start?”

“But I did though,” the younger one replied. “I am sure I did.”

“Nah I’m pretty sure you didn’t,” the older one replied.

“Umm, why am I here?” the boy asked. “And where is… here?”

The older girl sighed.

“Alright can you stop joking now?” she said to the boy. “No offence, but you’re kinda getting annoying.”

“I’m serious,” the boy said, starting to sound frustrated. “I’m not joking.”

“Wait, you seriously don’t remember?” the older girl asked and chuckled.

“Umm do you?” the boy asked.

“Of course I do,” the older girl said with confidence. “Why wouldn’t I? I came here from…”

Complete silence filled the room as the older girl abruptly stopped in her words and stared at the boy, looking utterly baffled.

“Uhh wow,” the older girl began. “That’s uhh...

She turned towards the younger girl in the centre, clearly feeling some sort of anxiety.

“Uhh kiddo?” she asked, sounding almost as nervous as the boy. “Little help, please? Misses… umm, whatever your name is?”

“Frisk,” the girl answered. “I am Frisk Kikyama.”

The older girl stared at her like she just suddenly grew a second mouth.

"Uhhh…" she began

"Wait, did you just say your name was Frisk?" the boy asked, sounding as shocked as the older girl. "But that’s my name. Frisk Bergman"

“Oh cool,” the younger girl, that is Frisk Kikiyama, said cheerfully. “I’ve never met someone with the same name as me. We should be besties.”

“Uhh, I hate to make it sound weirder,” the older girl said. “But Frisk is also my nickname.”

“Ooohhh, two people sharing my name,” Kikiyama said.

“Wait, so we are all three called Frisk in this room?” the boy, Bergman, said in shock. “That… that can’t be a coincidence.”

“Yeah this is like super weird,” the older girl said. “Then there is our outfits. Like I’m not sure you guys have noticed but we are all literally sharing the same colour scheme and pallet. Down to the exact stripes.”

With that said, the other two Frisks stared down at their clothes and immediately looked up, the young girl, Kikiyama, looking excited while the boy, Bergman, looked confused and anxious.

“Woah, matching outfits,” Frisk Kikiyama said.

“Oh god,” Frisk Bergman said and put his hand on his chest. “What is happening here?”

“This feels seriously messed up,” the older girl said, on the verge of panicking.

“Hey, hey, no need to be so scared you two,” Frisk Kikiyama and smiled. “Why won’t we just play some roleplaying games to pass the time?”

“How are you so calm about this,” the older one asked her. “You’re like 6. You should be freaking out. Wait a minute. Are you even human? Oh god am I finally dead for good? Is this some sort of test?”

“No, it’s just a dream silly,” Kikiyama said. “Isn’t it obvious.”

The older girl looked at her for a good moment as she seemed to take in what she said. After a few seconds, she sighed in relief.

“Oh, OHHH that explains so much,” she said and smiled. “Of course it’s so simple. I’m dreaming.”

“You’re dreaming?” Bergman asked. “Umm, I am pretty sure I am the one dreaming, and you’re just fake.”

“Are you calling me fake?” the older girl asked and chuckled. “Huh, didn’t know my subconscious was such an arse.”

“Who are you calling arse?” Bergman called back. 

“Mmmm, Nah, I’m pretty sure I’m the one who’s dreaming,” Kikiyama said.

“Oh great,” the older girl said sarcastically. “There’s two of you.”

“Wait,” Bergman began with a hint of realization. “What if none of us is real. Oh god.”

He put his hand on his chest again and seemed to be sweating.

“Uhh kiddo?” the older girl asked, no longer sounding as cocky as she noticed the boys growing anxiety.

“Oh god, what if I’m just someone else’s dream?” he asked himself. “What if all my memories are fake? What if-”

“Hey, hey calm down,” the older girl said. “Look, maybe we are all right and this is some sort of shared dream or something.”

“Yeah, I’ve read about that before,” Kikiyama said. “There are a bunch of interesting books about it in fact. You see, the idea of dreams and how they function is actually a very debated subject among scientists and magicians and such. Some think it’s merely a figment of the brain going to sleep or rebooting while others, mostly mystics and mages, believe its us tapping into the cosmos and the realm between realms.”

Bergman and the older girl Frisk stared the young-looking girl in shock as if she suddenly turned into a completely different person after that insight.

“What the…” Bergman gasped. 

“Wait, are you a six-year-old or a thirty-six-year-old?” the older girl asked.

“I dunno,” Kikiyama said and shrugged. “Don’t even remember what I just said.”

The older girl stared at her for a while before shrugging.

“Alright, whatever the case,” she began. “I think the best thing we should do is find out why we are here. If there is reason that is.”

“Umm, aren’t we waiting for someone?” Kikiyama said curiously.

“Really?” the older girl said. “How would you know?”

The young girl shrugged.

“I dunno,” she answered.

“W-waiting for whom?” the boy asked nervously.

“Dunno,” Kikiyama said. “I just know we are waiting for someone.”

“Do you have like anything we can base it on or…?” the older girl pried.

“Mmm, all I know is that they maybe don’t exist after all,” Kikiyama said.

“Ok, then what are we doing here?” Bergman asked.

“I’ve told you,” Kikiyama answered. “We are waiting for someone.”

“But… you just said that they might not exist after all,” Bergman said in confusion.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t wait for them,” Kikiyama said.

“Hang on, are you saying we are possibly waiting for a person that doesn’t exist?” the older girl asked. “How does that even work?”

“I dunno,” Kikiyama said.

The older Frisk gave out a short sigh.

“Whatever,” she said. “This is a dream so I don’t know why I’m even questioning this.”

“Ok, but what are we supposed to do until that person, who may or may not exist, appears?” Bergman asked.

“Great question,” Kikiyama said. “And the answer is…”

She suddenly pulled a large, cardboard box with the Deltarune symbol on it.

“Dungeons and Darkners!” she exclaimed.

“Uhh, you had that underneath this… strange table thing all this time?” the older girl asked. 

“Yeah, I brought it with me,” Kikiyama answered.

“I-into the dream,” Bergman asked. “Is that even possible?”

“Dunno, but I did,” Kikiyama said and smiled.

“Wait, didn’t you just say before that you made this game on your own?” Bergman asked, sounding confused like usual. “Then why is it in like, a box? Did you make the box as well.”

“Dunno, I always felt like it was in a box,” she answered. “Or at least that’s how I always imagined it.”

“So it’s not homebrewed or whatever then?” the older girl asked.

“Hmm, I guess not, maybe?” Kikiyama answered. “I dunno this is all weird to me.”

“You can say that again,” the older girl said. “Anyway, I guess we are playing. So you’re the DM?”

“Uhh, what is a ‘DM’?” Kikiyama asked genuinely.

The older girl looked at her as if she just grew a third mouth.

“Wait, have you ever played a game like this before?” the older girl asked.

“Mmm, not properly no,” she answered. “I always just made up my own rules. And I was always alone, never with friends so this is new to me.”

“Soooo, you were just playing like with toys?” the older girl began. “But wait. In that case, how are you going to explain the rules to… umm… the boy over there.”

“ _ You know I have a name _ ,” Bergman muttered.

“I was expecting you to explain it,” Kikiyama said. “Since you, y’know, seem to know these games better than me.”

“Oh, uh,” the older girl said, seeming blown back by that comment. “Y-yeah I am totally an expert in role-playing-games.”

Bergman looked at her suspiciously.

“You’ve, uh, never played an RPG before have you?” he asked her.

“Pfft, of course, I have,” the older girl said and smiled awkwardly. “Plenty of times.”

The other two stared at her in doubt.

“Fine, I’ve played like once,” the older girl confessed. “For about 10 minutes. 5 minutes. Ok, it was for 1 minute. Alright, fine I’ve barely played an RPG. I just… know some things about them in passing alright?”

“So none of us in here have played one before?” Bergman asked. “Uh, should we even play then?” 

“Why not?” Kikiyama said and smiled. “I do know some things about role-playing games and miss… umm, older Frisk over there knows some things as well.”

Kikiyama turned towards the older one with curiosity in her face.

“Umm, should I call you something else or…?” she asked.

“Just call me Francisca,” older Frisk said. “That’s my actual name. Well, it’s Francisca Ezperansa Montgommero if you wanna be hardcore, but Francisca is just fine.”

“Alright, Francisca, nice to meet you,” Kikiyama said and smiled cheerfully.

“ _ God, tiny Asian me is so cute _ ,” the older Frisk, or rather Francisca, muttered under her breath.

“What was that?” Bergman asked her.

“Oh nothing,” Francisca lied. “Nothing at all.”

She turned to the young girl, seemingly flustered.

“So I’m guessing we’re just making up the rules as we go?” she asked and turned to Bergman. “You in kid?”

The boy became thoughtful for a short while.

“Why not,” he said.

“Ok, then, let’s start!” Kikiyama exclaimed. “Let’s go to an adventure!”

With that, she began to tear open the large box.

The trio stood there in embarrassing silence for a while as the unpacking turned to be unfortunately difficult for a small girl with tiny hands and a body literally smaller than the box itself.

“Uhh, little help please?” she finally asked after an awkward silence.

“Oh, sure thing,” Francisca answered. 

“Umm ok I guess,” Bergman said.


	2. Chapter 2

**Dungeons and Darkners**

**Part 2**

“Since we all literally have the name Frisk, I just got the idea that we should maybe call each other something else,” Francisca suggested. “Y’know, to avoid confusion.”

The three of them were now placing down cards and fancy figures and models pieces on the strange, seemingly endlessly expanding table. The cards resembled playing cards and the models consisted of a few building pieces, some things resembling trees and foliage, and some blank miniature models, mostly resembling plain stick figures.

“Like by our last names?” Bergman asked her as he placed down a model that looked like a chess piece.

“Ooohhh, what about nicknames?” Kikiyama suggested.

Francisca shrugged lightly.

“Sure, why not?” she said. “Might be fun.”

“Alright,” Kikiyama said cheerfully.

“Well I think we've already decided that you are just Francisca,” Bergman said. “Since you're the only one who is not actually named Frisk.”

“That’s fine by me,” Francisca said. “Also the first time my nickname is… well, my name.”

“Cool,” Kikiyama said and turned towards Bergman. “Well, then your nickname should be… umm… Emmet.”

“Why Emmet?” the boy asked. “I mean I like it, but it sounds kinda random.”

“Because you look like that construction man from the lego movie,” the girl said. 

“Is it because I’m yellow?” the boy asked, sounding mildly insulted. "I have a rare skin condition you know?”

“Wait, are talking about the lego movie that's old as f- I mean old as… uhh… heck?” Francisca asked the girl. "Huh. Didn’t know kids these days watched or had even heard of antique flicks.”

“What do you mean by _ antique _?” the boy asked, finding her usage of words peculiar.

“I mean, aren't you two talking about the lego movies from like a hundred years ago,” Francisca answered simply. “Because those are the one that had Emmet I think.”

“No, the ones that had Emmet are from about 60 years ago,” Bergman said. 

“Nah, I am pretty sure the Emmet ones are over a century old,” Francisca said. 

The boy looked at her, looking about as confused as if she just confessed to being into cows or goats.

“Was there even a lego movie back then?” he muttered to himself

“If you want us to call you something else,” Kikiyama said to the boy. “Then I'm sure we can find another nickname for you.”

“Nah, Emmet is fine,” the boy said. “It’s just… yeah, it’s fine.”

“Oh cool!” Kikiyama said cheerfully.

“Well, I think you should be called… umm, Bambi,” Francisca said to her.

“Alright!” the girl said cheerily.

“Why Bambi though?” the boy now called Emmet asked. 

Francisca opened her mouth to speak, only to suddenly seemed to forget what she was going to say immediately.

“I… I dunno,” she then confessed. “It just somehow felt… natural I guess.”

“Well, I like it,” Bambi said.

“Great,” Francisca said. “So I guess that’s part is done with.”

As soon as she finished saying that, all the models and other contents of the box were finally put on the strange table. It was only once they were all placed that the group realized the magnitude of what lay inside. Large stacks of cards were laying in multiple sets, each stack reaching higher than Bambi, there were dozens of plain-looking stick figures, but the most impressive of all were the miniature buildings. They took the form of dark castles, houses and even food stands, and some of them even bent in an unnatural, gravity-defying matter. No-one in the trio ever remembered setting it up yet all were sure one or both of the others did so.

“Woah,” Francisca said simply as she looked at the table.

“How the… how did all of that fit in that tiny box?” Emmet asked.

“I dunno,” Bambi answered. “Magic I guess.”

“Well let’s just say its dream logic,” Francisca said.

“Yeah that makes sense,” Emmet said softly. “Or doesn’t I guess. I don’t know. This is all just so weird and confusing.”

“You can say that again,” Francisca replied.

The trio stood thoughtfully around the table, admiring their craft. Before any of them realized it, the silence in the room was immense. There were no rustling or sounds of life besides their breathing. In fact, perhaps the most silent place any of them had been in, so much so that they could hear their own heartbeats.

“So… what do we do now?” Emmet asked.

“I guess we should… create our characters now I guess?” Francisca said. 

“Is that gonna take a while?” Emmet asked.

“I think it depends,” Francisca said. “Mostly on how detailed we wanna go with it. Oh, and also on how long we have to wait until this… mystery guy or gal arrives.”

“Well we are not in a hurry,” Bambi said.

“Hey speaking of which, how long are we waiting for this… person exactly?” Emmet asked Bambi.

“I dunno,” Bambi replied. “All I know is that they will arrive precisely on time.”

“Umm, do you have anything clearer than that?” Francisca asked.

“Nope,” Bambi said.

“Hmm, well in that case,” Francisca began. “Let’s not spend much time dallying and get started with the character creation.”

“Already done with mine,” Bambi said cheerfully.

The other two Frisks looked at Bambi with a tinge of disbelief.

“Uhhh, that quick?” Emmet asked in confusion.

“Yep,” Bambi replied.

“Even with the backstory, traits and everything?” Francisca added.

“Yep,” Bambi replied.

“Wait, are DMs even supposed to make their own character as well?” Emmet asked. 

“I dunno,” Bambi said.

“I mean,” Francisca began. “We've already decided that we are making up some rules as we go along.”

“Ok, that’s fair, I guess,” Emmet said and turned back to Bambi. “Also, did you like… plan your character from the start or something?”

“Nope,” Bambi said. “It just came to me a second ago.”

“All of it?” Emmet asked, finding this hard to believe.

“Yep,” Bambi said simply. 

Francisca and Emmet stared at each other for a brief moment of confusion before shrugging.

“Well I guess that saves us some time,” Francisca said. “Gotta say. You’re one creative kid.”

“Thanks,” Bambi sweetly. 

“So should we get on with it or what?” Emmet asked.

“Oh yeah, let’s,” Francisca said.

  
  


About a half an hour later(or maybe longer or sooner since no one in the trio was certain if this "dream" even had the same, real-life concept of time), Emmet, long done with his character, and Bambi were still waiting after Francisca. Bambi was cheerfully humming a song, while Emmet began to grow a little bit impatient. Not by much, but it was hard not to grow any in the silent dullness of this room. 

On the character sheets that suddenly popped up in front of them at the same time, Francisca was still busy scribbling in hers. Besides Bambi's humming, the loud, frantic scribbling was the only audible sound as Emmet watched in uncomfortable silence.

“Are you almost done?” he asked her. 

“Just a minute,” Francisca said without looking up.

“You said that a few minutes ago,” Emmet said. “No offence, but I don't think I wanna spend the rest of the dream waiting for someone.”

“Almost done,” Francisca said, focusing much more now. “Aaannnddd… done!”

“Phew, finally,” Emmet said and gave a tired sigh.

Francisca placed her pens to the side, clearly happy with her work.

“So who should start?” Francisca asked, sounding somewhat excited. “With showing our characters I mean.”

“I'll start,” Emmet said. “Mostly because… I didn’t write much.”

“That's alright,” Francisca said. “This is your first time. Well, my first as well technically, but we all gotta start somewhere. I mean, Tolkien didn’t start writing the Lord of the Rings novels just as soon as he came from the womb.”

“Hmm, good point,” Emmet said.

“So who's your character?” Bambi asked enthusiastically.

Almost silently, Emmet picked up his character's sheet and showed the other two what he wrote and draw. Inside a large empty frame taking over half the page, was a decent drawing of a what looked like a blue-skinned androgynous person in a suit of armour, complete with a cape, a sword and a shield.

“This is, uh, Kris,” Emmet said. “Not the most original name, I know. So anyways-”

“Is that a boy or a girl,” Bambi said. “Oh, sorry for interrupting.”

“I don't know,” Emmet answered simply. “Neither I guess? I haven’t thought of it.”

“Then let's just call Kris _ they _ until then,” Francisca said. 

“Yeah, whatever, that’s fine by me,” Emmet answered.

“Ok, what is _ their _ backstory,” Bambi asked.

“I was getting to that,” Emmet said. “So, umm… _ they _ are a teen. An older teen, like around 14, or maybe older like Francisca.”

“Thanks,” Francisca said.

“And throughout their whole life,” Emmet continued. “They were raised by a kind family of… monsters in a… a town inhabited by monsters, which is why they are so… quiet. Yeah, I don’t have much else than that.”

“It was fine enough, don’t worry,” Francisca said. 

“Hmm, thanks,” Emmet said.

“Alright, so who's your character, Francisca?” Bambi asked the older teen.

“Oh,” Francisca said, and then smiled. “So my character… god, my character. Are you ready for this? Because I am like super proud of this one.”

“Uh-huh,” Emmet replied.

“Show us, I’m so excited!” Bambi said, a bit hyper.

“So this,” Francisca began and picked up her sheet. “...is Susie, The violent Axe.”

She excitedly showed her sheet to the rest of the group.

Just at first glance, it was a bit more clear why she took so long. Turns out she didn't write as much detail about the characters backstory or personality as Emmet and Bambi assumed, although there was still a bit more written than perhaps necessary in some parts. But the thing that clearly had the most effort put in was the drawing. It portrayed a large, brutish lizard looking creature, with purple scales, long and dirty, brown human-like hair, torn biker clothing, and an axe that was larger than practical.

“So, what do you think of this beaut, eh?” Francisca said, looking like an excited little kid showing off her drawing.

This was perhaps the most childlike she had appeared so far, making Emmet and Bambi feel slightly uncomfortable at her seemingly abrupt change of character.

“Uhhh,” was all Bambi said now, as she was unsure what to feel or even say.

“Umm, what else can I say but… edgy much?” responded Emmet.

“She looks… nice I guess,” Bambi said, clearly a bit undecided. “So… what is Susie's… story?”

“Well,” Francisca began. “She is loud, rebellious, and strong as F. I made her a dragon because dragons are like my spirit animals. Also, she has this huge axe because why not?”

“Ok, but what is her story?” Emmet asked. “Like, I think, uh, Bambi over there was asking for your character’s backstory, not their… well, character.”

“Oh, uhh…” Francisca began, sounding almost stunned now. “She is uhh… from a town… and like a loner. No friends I think? I don’t know… her backstory is mostly just… like uh… edgy shirts like… oh sorry, I-”

She stopped herself as if she just realized something.

“Wait, what?” she said. “Did I just say shirt? Why did I…? Wait. Shirt. Oh, shirt. I can’t say shirt?”

“What the heck are you going on about Francisca?” Emmet said confused, before turning even more confused quickly afterwards. “Umm, did I just say _ heck _?”

“Ok, pardon my language kiddos,” Francisca began. “But this is forking weird. Wait. I can’t say fork either? Why can’t I say shirt or fork? Also, what the fork is _ forking _?”

“Eh, I think that’s because of me,” Bambi said. “I don’t really like swear words.”

“Wait, so we can’t say things like fork or shirt here?” Francisca asked. “Well, great. That’s like half my vocabulary just gone now.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Bambi said and smiled apologetically. “I dunno how to stop this.”

“Hmm, it’s ok, I think I can live,” Francisca said. “Can I still say something like… I don’t know, _ dance it _ or-? Oh come on, I can’t even say _ dance _? That's like the diet soda of curse words.”

“Umm, shirt?” Emmet began, clearly experimenting. “Ok, that’s weird. What about… birth? Ask? Askhole?”

“Court?” Francisca said. “Motherforker? Son of a birth? Shirtfaced court? The shirtfaced court of a forking mother forking son of a forking birth? Umm… shirt? Oh, dance it. I can’t even say it in Spanish either.”

“Alright, that might make things a bit confusing,” Emmet said. 

“Yeah, let’s just continue on and… worry about this later I guess,” Francisca suggested. “So anyway, so my Susie’s backstory is just… just stuff I guess. Her family is or was… probably not good to her? Maybe they were… neglectful, which could explain her… I dunno, edginess?”

“Ooh,” Bambi began excitedly as if she just thought of something. “Or maybe Susie’s family was mostly good, but not great. Maybe his father is a cheery goofball who loves doughnuts, but his mother is sadly depressed and unable to care much for her. Oh, and maybe Susie got her rebellious attitude from her punk rock uncle, who Susie’s idolizes and wants to replicate.”

“Holy…” Emmet began stunned.

“Woah…” Francisca said, stunned as well. “Gotta say. That’s like… incredibly detailed and well said for a toddler.”

“Aww, thanks,” Bambi said and smiled. 

“Not sure I agree with this interpretation,” Francisca continued. “But man, am I like out of touch with kids or something? Or have I, like, extremely underestimated preschoolers?”

“Aww, you’re too kind,” Bambi said and gave out a huge smile. “I don’t even remember what we are talking about, but thank you.”

“Uh, yeah,” Francisca said back. “Always knew I didn’t have the greatest imagination, but it’s at least nice to hear that it's now confirmed to be worse than a toddler’s.”

“No, no, no, you were fine miss Francisca,” Bambi said reassuringly.

“Yeah it was alright,” Emmet said. “Not the best but, like you said, first time for everyone.”

“Hmm, thanks guys,” Francisca said. “So umm… yeah, that’s that. That’s Susie. My character. Also, I just realized that I kinda have this weird feeling like I based her on someone, but I'm not sure who.”

“Strange, I also feel something like that,” Emmet said. “About my Kris that is.”

“Huh,” Francisca said. 

“Think there's be a connection or something?” Emmet asked. 

“Feels like it,” Francisca said analytically. “What do you think about it, Bambi?”

“Nah, I’m sure you two are just imagining things,” the little girl replied.

“Hmm, maybe,” Francisca said. “Anyway, who’s your character, Bambi?”

“Uhh, what?” Bambi asked surprisingly.

“Didn’t you just say a while ago that you made a character as well?” Emmet asked her.

“Oh right!” Bambi exclaimed. “Yeah, I have one. But he doesn’t appear or join you two until later so I want to keep him a surprise.”

“Well… ok then,” Emmet said. “So… I guess we can start playing now right?”

“Yes,” Bambi said. “Alright, you two. Grab your dices and imagination, for we are about to enter the world of… Dungeons and Darkners!”

  
  


“You… uh... find yourself in a dark, scary place," Bambi began. "It’s really dark and you can barely see in front of yourself."

As the little girl told the story, the table in front of them began to grow darker and darker. Eventually, all the castles and models vanished like they were consumed by a pitch-black mist. Despite it happening literally in front of all of them, no-one in the trio found themselves able to find it weird, even if all of them had a slight feeling they should.

“I pick up my phone and turn on its flashlight,” Francisca suggested.

“You don't have a phone,” Bambi answered. “In fact, you soon realize you don’t have any modern technology in this world.”

“Eh, it was worth a shot,” Francisca said and shrugged.

“So we are gonna play through this whole game without being able to see?” Emmet asked. 

“No, no, you can see _ some _ things,” Bambi answered. “Like the rocks and also the road in front of you.”

As Bambi said that, one part of the table began to clear itself of the dark mist, and a miniature road manifested, alongside a few stones with alien runes carved on them. Then, there sprang up in the middle of it one of the stick figure models from the box, except it was now dressed in tiny armour with a cape and holding a sword and shield, resembling toys. It also began to slowly but assuredly resemble Emmet’s drawing of his character. Once again, no one was particularly weirded out by this display.

“Well, then I go down the road,” Emmet answered.

“And I come along, obviously,” Francisca said.

“Oh, forgot to mention,” Bambi began. “But you two are separated from each other.”

“Wait, really?” Francisca asked.

“That’s a weird choice,” Emmet said. “I just assumed we started at the same place in this game.”

“Eh, whatever,” Francisca said. “So… where am I exactly?”

“Well…” Bambi began, thinking. “You are in another dark place, not far away from Emmet, or Kris rather, and around you are a bunch of weird completely white things resembling bushes.”

Another part of the table was now also cleared of mist, this one showing a small area littered with what looked like white cotton balls. Out of it sprung another stick figure, this one taller and more hulking, and like the previous one, it began to resemble Francisca’s drawing.

“Hmm, I’m gonna punch one of the white bush thingies,” Francisca said. 

“Umm, ok then,” Bambi said, slightly surprised.

“Why?” Emmet asked curiously.

“They seem weird and I don’t trust them,” Francisca said.

“Alright, then roll,” Bambi said.

And so Francisca did. With her strong palms, she grasped the tiny 20 sided die and shook and shook with great determination as all watched in anticipation before she rolled. The first roll of the game. But it was a lousy one. In fact, it turned out to just be one. On the dice, that is.

“Aww, too bad,” Bambi said. “Looks like you punched so softly that you are… sucked into one of the white things.”

As she said that, the figure on the table proceeded to do exactly that. It was like watching a toy come to life or a miniature robot following some weird command.

“Wait, so I'm stuck now?” Francisca asked.

“Only for a while,” Bambi reassured. “I think. I… haven't really figure out this part, because I didn't really think of it.”

“Mm, that’s fine,” Francisca said. “I'll just… wait a turn.”

“Alright,” Bambi said. “Emmet? What will Kris do?”

“Oh, uh, I'll go down the road like I said,” Emmet said. “Should I roll a dice for that or…?”

“Nah, there is no need,” Bambi said. “So you head down the road. It’s dark, but you can manage. On the road, you see a bunch of white things similar to what Francisca, or Susie, encountered, but you don’t know that she's inside any of them.”

As she finished that saying, the two visible spots on the otherwise dark covered table were combined together into one bigger area.

“I'll uh, examine them,” Emmet suggest.

“Good idea,” Bambi said. “You need to roll for this by the way.”

“Oh,” Emmet expressed.

With that said he rolled the die and looked at the number that appeared.

“Got 11,” he said, reading the die. “What does that mean? Is that good?”

“Yes, it is,” Bambi said. 

“Ok cool,” Emmet said. “So what do I find?”

“Nothing at first,” Bambi said. “But as you check and check, you eventually find the one holding Francisca. Or Susie rather, and you save her.”

“Wait, so the whole separation was for nothing?” Emmet asked. “Like, why did you even go with that if we were just gonna end up together quickly after all?”

“Umm, I dunno,” Bambi said. “I just… felt it was natural.”

“Hmm, ok then,” Emmet said.

“So what do you do now?” Bambi asked. “Francisca, it’s your turn.”

“Oh, well I guess I'll… thank Emmet or something,” Francisca said. “I dunno if my character is the thanking type, honestly. Then I'll just head down the road, possibly dragging Emmet with me.”

“Alright,” Bambi began and there seemed to be a clear sign of excitement on her expression.

It was the type of excitement she showed that was as if something she had been waiting for for a long time was about to finally happen, something big and hyper. Francisca recognized it immediately.

“Oh boy,” Francisca said to herself softly.

“Did you say something?” Emmet asked.

“Nothing special,” Francisca said. “I just have this feeling that’s something’s about to happen.”

“That's weird,” Emmet said.

“What isn’t weird here?” Francisca asked.

“Then,” Bambi began, clearly building some sort of anticipation. “You head down the road… and then… SURPRISE ATTACK!”

“Wha-?” Francisca began.

“Huh-?” Emmet expressed.

“You two are suddenly attacked by a mysterious, unknown figure throwing pointy spades at you!” Bambi said, somewhat loudly.

“Why are they spa-?” Emmet began.

“NO TIME TO ASK, IT'S TIME TO RUN!” Bambi exclaimed with incredible hyperactivity. 

Suddenly, the table began to shake a bit as a red outline seem to appear around it. The visible area shifted into a long dark road with bottomless pits on each end.

Then, it was as if the entire room was somehow under her spell, for now not just the table, but the entire room seemed to shake like the insides of an uneven Jenga tower, and everyone in the trio felt a sudden rush of adrenaline in their system.

“Oh shirt!” Francisca said. “I'll forking run then!”

“Crab, me too!” Emmet said.

“THEN GRAB YOUR DICES AND ROLL!” Bambi exclaimed.

“Geez!” Francisca said as she and Emmet grabbed their die.

Neither of them spent even a moment dallying or even acknowledging the sudden intensity of the room or table, as they rolled and threw their dices as if their lives depended on it.

“WOAH, 20 FOR FRANCISCA!” Bambi yelled excitedly. “YOU, MY GIRL, RUN LIKE SUPER FAST DOWN THE ROAD AND DOWN THE UPCOMING SLIDE!”

“Holy crab!” Francisca expressed as she suddenly got a sensation as if she was sliding down something very fast 

Suddenly as she turned towards Emmet, her voice became calmer as if a switch was turned.

“You Emmet, meanwhile,” she said. “Rolled a 12, so you are _ slightly _ behind.”

“Ok that's-” Emmet began.

“NOW RUN!” Bambi yelled.

“Ok geez!” Emmet said.

The room shook between wildly and softly like a wave, following a rhythm of Bambi's wavering hyperactivity as if it was connected to her by some cosmic linkage.

“You run and run as FAST AS YOU CAN!” Bambi exclaimed. “You run as countless spades try to hit you! Then, you arrive at a cliff and SLIDE DOWN!”

As she said that, Emmet began to feel the same sensation in his stomach of sliding down something steep as Francisca did.

“What in the world is happening?!” he expressed.

“You slide down and down, deeper and DEEPER into the darkness!” Bambi continued. “And then… you finally reach the bottom, and escaped the attack of the hidden figure.”

As smoothly as turning off the power, the room suddenly stopped shaking and became quiet and calm again. On the dark mist covered table, the red hue vanished and a model of a small dark hallway was formed with the two figures standing on it close by.

While Bambi was now smiling in clear amusement, her two companions weren’t in as good as status as she was in. Both Emmet and Francisca felt incredibly dizzy from the intensity a moment ago, with Francisca grasping the table with her hands to keep her balance. Both of them also breathed hard and heavily while the adrenaline slowly left their veins as if both of them had just run through a marathon.

“What in the forking fork just happened?” Francisca said as she caught her breath.

“Ho-holy crab,” Emmet said while breathing very hard. “This… felt so real I… I'm not sure if we are dreaming anymore.”

“Yeah…” Francisca said.

“Umm, we can stop this game now if you'd like,” Bambi suggested.

“Oh no, no, no,” Francisca said. “That was… awesome! Exhilarating! I haven’t felt this excited while not putting in much effort since… I don’t know. I’m definitely up for some more.”

“Alright good,” Bambi said. “What about you Emmet? Do you want to quit or…”

"I… uhh…" Emmet began, breathing heavily and speaking with a thoughtful tone. “I… I don’t know.”

“I mean…” Francisca began. “If you don’t want to continue its fine. I'm sure Bambi and I can continue this game with just the two of us. You can just… watch I guess.”

Emmet looked at the two girls thoughtfully.

“Nah, I can continue playing,” he said after a while. “Just uh, let us know before you… do something like this again.”

“Alright, I'll keep it in mind,” Bambi said and smiled.

“Ok,” Emmet said. “So… what happens now.”

“Now,” Bambi begins. “Here is where the story properly starts.”

“Oh,” Francisca expressed with surprise. “Well, in that case, that was a very… intense prologue, to say the least.”

“As you both come to,” Bambi began. “You come across a strange dark town with a towering castle with a large geyser spewing from.”

The dark fog dissipated again, and on the table, dozens of model houses, ones that the group recognized as models they picked up from Bambi’s weird box, appeared in a neat arrangement and then one of the large dark castle models rose up at Bambi’s end, and what seemed to be a long reverse waterfall was spewing from the top of it.

“Woah,” Emmet said.

“As you explore this place,” Bambi continued. “You both see a strange hooded figure standing, waiting, at the front of the large castle.”

“So a mysterious, hooded figure standing alone in a dark, eerie place we’ve apparently never been to?” Francisca stated. “Sounds trustworthy.”

“I’ll, uh, talk to them,” Emmet suggested.

“You two go up to the figure and ask him what’s up,” Bambi began. “The figure reveals then that they are a prince of the darkness, and have been waiting for you for a long time.”

“A prince of darkness eh?” Francisca began. “Yep, definitely a bad guy. We should go.”

“He’s not…” Bambi stated. “He’s a good guy actually, like the sweetest and fluffiest boy you know. He likes to bake cakes and make everyone happy.”

“Hmm, alrighty then,” Francisca said, still with a hint of suspicion. “So what does this dark prince say?”

“He says that he has been waiting for you two to arrive,” Bambi continues. “That you two are the Deltawarriors. Heroes of an old prophecy. He then says that he wishes to tell you the story of Darkners and Lightners.”

“I guess we’ll listen,” Emmet suggested.

“Well, ain’t no harm in it, apparently,” Francisca said.

“Good,” Bambi said. “Because I have worked on this part for a long while.”

“Wait, you’ve been working on this story for a while now?” Francisca asked.

“That… that somehow explains a lot,” stated Emmet. “I just assumed you were making up as we went along.”

“Eh, not exactly,” Bambi said. “It’s a… sorry, I don’t know how to explain it. Sorry.”

“Oh, no need to apologize,” Emmet said.

“Good to hear,” Bambi said. “Now as I was saying… the prince tells you there exist two worlds with two lifeforms, the Light World, where you, Lightners, are from, and the Dark World, where the Darkners live. The prince says that the two worlds were separated thanks to what’s known as The Fountain, and-”

“Hang on,” Emmet began. “Is it just me or this story and our characters starting to sound very familiar? Like incredibly so?”

The girls looked at each other as if Emmet just made a great point that made them rethink everything. Then they just shook their heads and smiled as if he was speaking nonsense.

“Nah,” Bambi said.

“Yeah Nah, I’m pretty sure it’s just you,” Francisca added.

“Yeah…” Emmet said thoughtfully. “Yeah, maybe it's just me.”

“Well anyway,” Francisca said. “Continue the story kiddo.”

“Ok, so where was I?” Bambi asked herself. “Oh right. So just recently, a new fountain emerged out of nowhere, creating a rift in the balance of the two worlds, hence why you two were suddenly transported to this world."

As Francisca and Emmet watched the little girl with the sweet, sugary voice tell the tale, they both realized that something felt different. Something, which kept them two and even Bambi herself enthralled by her own tale as if by a spell. As they soon realized, it was the little girl, Bambi, who seemed to be the source of this change, as despite still sharing the body and voice of a toddler, she now suddenly spoke with the maturity and knowledge of an older seasoned storyteller. Yet, she somehow kept the same tone of the young girl they come to know. It was more like she had been mentally replaced by a much older version of herself.

“But that is not the only thing that happens,” Bambi says. “Now the two worlds are in mortal peril from ending. Calamity will strike, the earth will sunder, chaos… will rise. But there is a prophecy, the prophecy of the Deltarune. It says that a human, a monster, and a prince of the dark will come together and destroy that second fountain and banish the angel’s heaven.” 

“So now that you two you have heard his story,” Bambi continued. “Of the foretold prophecy, and your role in restoring the balance of light and dark. Now, the prince asks you, will you accept your destiny?”

As that was said, it was like the spell lifted and all the trio were sent back into their own reality, yet a part of the spell still lingered. The part lingered in their minds as an incredible sense of awe and surprise, even within Bambi herself, who expressed a surprised yet joyful expression from her own tale.

“So what did you think?” she politely asked the other two.

“That was… good,” Emmet answered. 

“Man for a toddler, that was…” Francisca began. “How old are you again kiddo?”

“I'm 37,” Bambi said without irony.

“WAIT, WHAT!?” Francisca and Emmet exclaimed almost in unison.

“I said I'm 7,” Bambi said, taken a bit back by their loud voices. “Why? Is that…”

“You… you just said you were 37,” Francisca said, befuddled. “I could've sworn it.”

“Well, maybe you misheard,” Bambi suggested.

“No, no, I heard that as well,” Emmet said, confused as well.

“Alright well… maybe I misspoke then,” Bambi said. “Sorry.” 

Francisca and Emmet looked at each other with a look of bafflement, a common habit that seemed to be starting to form between them. Then Francisca shrugged and said:

“Whatever.” 

“Yeah,” Emmet said. 

“So any questions?” Bambi asked.

“Uhh, yeah, I have one,” Emmet began. “What’s up with the whole _ Angel’s Heaven _ thing? Like, what does that even mean?”

“I dunno,” Bambi answered. “I just felt like I had to mention it for some reason.”

“So I’m guessing we two are the people from the prophecy?” Francisca asked.

“Maybe,” Bambi answered. “That’s what I believe.”

“Wait, what do you mean by _ believe _?” Emmet asked, confused. “I thought you created this story.”

“I’m… not sure I did,” Bambi confessed. “As I said, I just got this idea. I’m not even sure I made it myself. I dunno. It feels kinda like someone planted it in my mind.”

“I can buy it,” Francisca said. “I mean, it’s not the weirdest thing that happened here. Heck, that wouldn’t be the weirdest thing that could happen in a dream. Just recently, I had a nightmare about some guy I had never met or even heard before, only to find out by pure chance that he was an actual person in real life only a few hours after I woke up. If you ask me, dreams are weird, and… and maybe even unnatural.”

“So… you are suggesting this weird story we are playing through could actually happen?” Emmet asked.

Francisca looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. Then she grinned and shook her head.

“Nah, that sounds kinda… ridiculous,” Francisca said. “But now that I think about, I dunno. A bunch of weird shirts has been happening to me in the last few hours so… maybe?”

“Hmm,” Emmet expressed.

“Guess we’ll see when we wake up,” Francisca said and turned towards the little girl with the possible mind of an adult. “Bambi, what happens next?”

“Oh,” Bambi said, having forgotten herself in thoughts. “So yeah. The little prince has finished telling you the story, and now comes the big question. How will you answer your call?”

The other two Frisks stared at her for an awkward moment before considering that they perhaps needed to give their own input.

“Are we supposed to say something now or…?” Francisca asked.

“Yeah,” Bambi said. “You can start.”

“Umm, ok,” Francisca said and began to think.

And think she did, for a good moment. In the midst of it, she unzipped her hoodie, seemingly by habit, showing the plain blue t-shirt underneath.

“Hmmm,” Francisca began.

She stared down at the table, pressed both her arms on the edge and followed with a thoughtful expression like gears were turning in her head. Bambi, and Emmet to some extent, began to look confused, as they expected her to come to an answer to this seemingly simple question much sooner. Then, a moment later, she finally gave her answer.

“Yeah, I'm gonna ditch this new guy,” Francisca answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why, but I am starting to imagine that Emmet looks like Finn Wolfhard from Strangers Things, or maybe even as Noah Schnapp, also from Stranger Things. I guess I am just thinking about it considering the whole D&D thing going on.
> 
> Anyways, it's back. The crossover fic is back, to those that care. So yeah, last time I kinda picked a terrible time to write it. Turns out you have a lot of shirts to do in the last months of a decade, who knew? But here it is, just two whole months behind schedule. I expected to be done with this in November, but then life called.
> 
> In good news, I actually started playing D&D for the first time this month. So far, I've enjoyed it, and it also means that I have a clearer understanding of how Roleplaying game works (Yes, I started writing a fic themed around D&D Roleplaying Games without having ever tried one before. Maybe not the smartest move).
> 
> But for now, it's back, and I'll see you in chapter 3 (2?) in... I dunno, two months from now? I hope not. And I'll try not to but... I can't promise since... life's a birth.


	3. Chapter 3

**Dungeons and Darkners**

**Part 3**

“Uhh, are you serious?” Emmet asked, confused.

“Well… yeah,” Francisca replied. “Saving the world and stuff? Susie doesn’t do that. Susie is her own dragon who takes orders from no one.”

“Wait, what are you…?!” Emmet began, befuddled.

“Umm…” Bambi said, surprised. “The prince is… shocked by your answer. He asks you why.”

“I’ve told you,” Francisca said simply. “My Susie doesn’t do saving the world. This prince guy probably has the wrong person.”

“Ok…” Bambi said, still confused. “So the prince says that if you don’t do anything, the world will end.”

“Eh, Susie doesn’t care,” Francisca replies. “I tell this prince guy it might be kinda fun actually.”

“Ok, what the heck are you doing Francisca?!” Emmet asked.

“What?” she replied. “I mean… you don’t really trust this dark prince guy, right? I mean, you go ahead, but my Susie is her own girl.”

Bambi, sensing a growing conflict between her two companions, decided to intervene. 

“Suddenly, ANOTHER SURPRISE ATTACK!” she expresses.

“What are you-” Emmet began.

Out of a sudden, there came a small, hyper-realistic explosion on the table right by the dark, castle model, and everyone except Bambi was startled by it.

“Gah, Jesus!” Francisca expressed.

As the following smoke dissipated, another strange item appeared. It was perhaps the oddest item so far, or combination of items rather. It was a simple ace of spades card tied to a miniature toy bike.

“Ho, ho, ho!” Bambi said in what seemed to be her attempt at a young boyish voice. “The heroes are already running away?! And I didn’t do anything! My dad is gonna make me the son of the month!”

“What’s happening now?” Emmet said, kinda creeped out.

“It’s not me, it’s a character that’s speaking,” Bambi said. 

“Uhh, I'll ask this new guy who he is then,” Francisca suggested, somewhat dazzled by this.

“Alright then,” Bambi said.

She gave out a short, sweet-sounding cough.

“I'm… the bad guy!” Bambi then exclaimed in the same boyish voice. 

“Ok, I think I like this guy,” Francisca said, amused.

“This prince then tells you that-” Bambi began.

“Wait, wait, wait, that’s a prince too?” Emmet asked.

“Yeah,” Bambi said. “He's Lancer, the prince of spades.”

“Oh yeah, that’s why it’s a spade card,” Francisca. “So I guess we are doing card themes here right? So the other guy must be the prince of hearts or something.”

“Nah, he’s not the prince of anything yet,” Bambi said. “He doesn’t even have servants or anything. Just a lone prince.”

“A lone prince?” Francisca asked. “What? Is he like self-appointed or-”

“Is he related to this new prince or…?” Emmet asked.

“Nah,” Bambi answered. “Completely unrelated. I think.”

“You uh… think?” Emmet asked. “H… how many princes are in this kingdom then?”

“Uh, several, maybe?” Bambi said. “There are also some princesses as well, probably. You see… this kingdom has four different kings who rule it and-”

“Wait, how does that work?” Francisca asked. “Do they like… take turns or something?”

“I dunno,” Bambi replied.

“I'm not sure it really matters,” Emmet replied.

“Right, I'm nitpicking, sorry,” Francisca said. “Continue on, kid.”

“So this prince of spades is named Lancer,” Bambi continued. “He’s the son of the evil spade king, who created the other fountain. Then he tells you about his two-step plan to trash you.”

“Which is…?” Francisca pried. 

“Step one: thrash you!” Bambi said with sudden loudness. “Step two… uhh… win!”

“Hmm alright,” Francisca said, thinking. “I have a suggestion. How about me and Emmet… use this plan on him instead.”

“Uhh… can I-” Emmet began.

“Great idea!” Bambi said. 

“_ I was planning on going for a pacifist but whatever _,” Emmet muttered under his breath.

“Alright, NOW ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!” Bambi exclaimed.

“Gee kid!” Francisca replied, thrown back once again by her abrupt change of tone. “I’m never gonna get used to that, huh?”

She, Bambi and Emmet then all picked up their own dice, not once stopping to think why there were now suddenly three die on the table, and rolled. Of the trio, luck rolled in favour of Emmet, with Francisca second and Bambi last.

“Crab,” Francisca blurted out.

“Does that mean I go first or…?” Emmet asked.

“Yep,” Bambi confirmed.

“Ok, cool,” the boy replied. “Do I… have to go with combat or…?”

“Nah, you can do whatevs,” Bambi replied.

“Hmm ok,” Emmet said, thinking. “In that case I’m… I’m gonna tell Lancer to… watch out for Francisca’s character.”

“Hey!” Francisca replied, mildly insulted. “Don’t assist the enemy!”

“Ok, how do we know he’s a quote-unquote “enemy”?” Emmet said. 

“He… that guy literally just said so,” Francisca replied. 

“I know what he said,” Emmet said. “But… maybe he doesn’t know any better. Maybe he’s forced to go after us or… maybe there’s… like… nuance to him.”

“Well… he threatened us first,” Francisca said. “Besides, it’s just a game. I feel like you’re overthinking this, kid.”

“I know it’s “just” a game,” Emmet said, with a hint of growing frustration. “Also, can you stop calling me kid?”

“Hey, hey!” Bambi said. “Can you please not fight? This is supposed to be a game of fun. Besides, sorry, Francisca but Imma side with Emmet here. You have a good point, but Emmet’s point is better.”

“Umm… thanks?” Emmet said. 

“Fine,” Francisca pouted. “Emmet, go warn him or whatever. Oh and yeah, sorry about the calling you a kid thing I guess.”

“It's… whatever,” Emmet answered. “So I guess I'll… do that thing. Warn him I mean. Should I roll or…?”

“I dunno,” Bambi said.

“Yeah, I think you always roll during combat moments,” Francisca said. “That’s one thing I learned from glancing at my brother play with some guys online.”

“Wait, you have a brother?” Emmet asked with surprising intrigue.

“Yeah?” Francisca replied. “Why's that weird? Lots of people have older brothers.”

“Is he… a human,” Emmet pried.

“Uhh, of course…?” Francisca replied, confused. “What else would he be? An alien? What are you trying to imply?”

“Oh, nothing,” Emmet said. “It was just… nevermind. I think I was just mistaken about something.”

“I sometimes wish I had a brother,” Bambi said. “The closest I ever got was mister Sans.”

“Sans?” Francisca asked with a tone of dread. “Uhh, why does that name sound familiar? And why does hearing it creep me out so much?”

“Strange, I think I’ve also heard it somewhere,” Emmet added. “But it doesn’t creep me out though. It just makes me feel… I dunno, cheery I guess?”

“Is… is it just me, or is it very cold in here?” Francisca said, shaking mildly.

“I had an older sister though,” Bambi added. “Once.”

“Once?” Emmet asked. 

Bambi didn’t answer, but it was the first time the other two felt she gave of the complete opposite than the wholesome cheeriness they had grown used to, as the little girl simply stared at the table with deep melancholy. Without saying a word, the other two could immediately see what she was going for.

“Oh,” Emmet said with clear empathy. “Sorry I…”

“Yeah, let’s just continue,” Francisca added. “Before the mood devolves even further than it has to.”

“Yeah…” Emmet expressed.

The boy then grabbed the d20 closest to him and threw it. It didn’t spend much time rolling on the table before stopping.

“A 10,” Emmet said, reading from the die. “Is that a success or…?”

“Oh yeah, it is,” Bambi said, having abruptly turned back to her former, cheerful self. “Kinda. You managed to warn him about Susie but not enough to make him leave.”

“Well shirt,” Emmet said.

“Great, I'll attack him now,” Francisca said. 

Without asking Bambi, she grabbed the die closest to her(or the one that appeared to be on this strange table) and threw it. Out of it came a decent 12 and Francisca smiled. Unfortunately, her excitement immediately faded once she saw Bambi's grimace. It was the type of grimace you make when you realize you must tell someone disappointing news.

“Oof, too bad,” Bambi said. “You strike the prince and just miss.”

“Wait, what?” Francisca said, confused. “But I thought we needed ten or higher to succeed in an attack.”

“Well… most of the time, yeah,” Bambi said. "But since Emmet warned him… you needed to get a bit higher than that. About 3 points or higher. Or 13. I think that’s how math works."

“Well, crab then,” Francisca said.

“Now it’s Lancer’s turn,” Bambi continued. “He revs up his bike and-”

“Wait, wait, wait, he’s on a motorcycle?” Francisca said, sounding amused and intrigued.

“Nah, it’s more of a bike with a makeshift booster,” Bambi explained.

“Uhh… isn’t that super dangerous?” Emmet asked.

“Weren’t you calling me out for nitpicking earlier?” Francisca asked him.

“Oh yeah, nevermind,” Emmet said.

“So he revs up his bike,” Bambi continued. “And…leaves.”

“Wait really?” Emmet asked.

“Yeah his bike ran out of fuel,” Bambi said. “So now Prince Lancer bids you farewell and goes east where the way to the fountain and back to your home is. Back to your world that is.”

“Hmm,” Francisca said, thinking.

With that said, the small bike and card vanished and the spot was quickly retaken by the hooded figurine.

“The prince of the dark,” Bambi begins. “Not Lancer, the other prince, now asks if you two are alright and such.”

“Is he still wearing the hood?” Francisca asked.

“Yep,” Bambi answered.

“Why?” Emmet asked back.

“Why not?” Bambi asked.

“I mean,” Francisca began. “If he really wants us to trust him, then why is he hiding his look?”

“Hmm, good point,” Bambi said. “Alright. The prince now removes his robes and reveals himself.”

Francisca gave out a subtle snicker.

“_ God, I’m immature _,” she muttered to herself.

“Underneath,” Bambi continued. “Is a fluffy boy wearing a green wizard hat and robes, which hides his fur in the shadows. He also has some horns sticking out.”

“Wait, he’s not like… a goat is he?” Emmet asked.

"That’s a… weird and a suspiciously specific question," Francisca said, her brow frowning.

“I ain’t telling,” Bambi said. “I will say his name is Ralsei and… he’s my character.”

“Oh, is that your… playable character?” Emmet asked. “Huh. Why didn’t you just introduce him at the start though? Alongside our characters.”

“Because I feel the story works better this way,” Bambi explained. “Wouldn’t have made sense if he was with you at the start.”

“Huh, is that usually done in these games?” Emmet asked curiously.

“I dunno,” Bambi said and shrugged. 

“Hey, quick question,” Francisca began. “The other prince guy-”

“Lancer,” Bambi added.

“Right, that guy,” Francisca continued. “He said that the way home was east right?”

“He did,” Bambi confirmed.

“Alright, in that case, I’m heading east,” Francisca said. “While you two have fun saving the world or whatever.”

“Hmm, fine by me,” Bambi said.

“Wait, are you… really going along with this Bambi?” Emmet asked, somewhat befuddled.

“Eh, I'll allow it,” Bambi said.

“But… don’t you feel like she’s… ruining your campaign here?” Emmet asked.

“Eh, I don’t know, a bit maybe?” Bambi admitted.

“Then why are you… going with this?” Emmet asked.

“Because I’m curious?” Bambi answered. “Because she wants to? Besides. I think we can manage, just the two of us for now.”

“Hmm,” Emmet said, still unsure. “Well… whatever then.”

“Cool,” Francisca said. “I’ll be gone then.”

There came an awkward silence between the three of them as if they all expected something to happen.

“So… I’m just gone now?” Francisca asked.

“Yeah,” Bambi said. “You go east and head through the massive red door from Ralsei’s kingdom.”

“So I’m just playing alone then?” Emmet asked. “Like… for now at least?”

“Well you’re with me,” Bambi said. “My character that is.”

“So what happens now?” Emmet asked. 

“Now you and the prince are together,” Bambi said. “Personally, I think we should head the same way as Susie, Francisca’s character went. But I wanna do something first”

“Alright, lead the way I guess,” Emmet said.

“Before we head off, Ralsei brings you to a room with a dummy,” Bambi began. “The dummy is a training dummy owned by him and dressed in similar clothes to his.”

“Well, ain’t he lonely,” Francisca said snarkily. 

No-one laughed at her snark, to her awkward misfortune.

“This is where he’ll teach you how to go through combat,” Bambi explains.

“Well, I don’t think my Susie needs any lessons in that,” Francisca added.

“So… am I supposed to fight it or…?” Emmet asked.

“Ralsei asks you to hug the dummy,” Bambi said.

“Hug the dummy?” Francisca repeated in surprise.

“Yes, hug the dummy,” Bambi confirmed.

“Uhh, why?” Emmet asked.

“Because it’s a nice thing to do,” Bambi answered. “Hugging your opponents can show them you mean no harm.”

“You… really think that actually works?” Francisca asked with doubt and chuckled slightly. “That enemies will just surrender if you just hug them enough?”

“Eh, something like that,” Bambi said. “Everyone has their reason, right? Not everyone is really a “bad” guy.”

“I mean, I sorta agree with that,” Francisca said. “And while I have to admit that that is also a surprisingly mature viewpoint for a 7-year-old, it’s also kinda… naive. Not saying you have to kill your enemies necessarily, but-”

“Francisca, c’mon,” Emmet said. “She’s just a little kid.”

“I’m just saying… nevermind,” Francisca said. “You’re right. She’s just a kid. Supposedly at least.”

“Supposedly?” Bambi asked.

“Yeah, you have to admit,” Emmet began before Francisca got a word out. “For supposedly being the youngest of us, you sure know a lot of tidbits and complex words for a 7-year-old.”

“Well, I’m a quick learner,” Bambi answered simply. 

The other two looked at her with doubt.

“Besides,” Bambi added. “I kinda forgot to mention but… I sometimes fall asleep here and there. But only in my mind. Not like with my eyes, and I have no idea where my mind goes and what or who comes while I’m gone.”

“Wait, are you saying… that you’re possessed?” Emmet said with worrying realization.

“I dunno,” Bambi answered. “Not sure _ possessed _ is a nice word for it though. More like… moved or… what’s the word? Ahh, replaced.”

“Ok, you’re starting to cross the border from cute to creepy,” Francisca blurted out. “Let’s just move on with the game before we say any more creepy shirts.”

“Good idea,” Emmet said. “So… what do I do now? What do I do in this game?”

“You can do almost anything you want,” Bambi said.

“Ok,” Emmet said. “So for instance, can I like… hug your prince character instead?”

“Umm, ok?” Bambi replied. “But… why do that?”

“You said that he should hug the dummy, didn’t you?” Francisca asked cheekily.

Emmet gave out a small snicker.

“God, that was stupid,” he said. “Alright, you got me with that.”

“So you hug Ralsei,” Bambi said. “He finds it weird, but comforting.”

“That’s cute,” Emmet said.

“Wait, so where am I again during all this?” Francisca asked. “I went through the giant door and… then what?”

“Oh right,” Bambi said. “You find yourself in a darkish forest, in a place called The Fields of Hopes and Dreams.”

Dozens of models of red-leaved trees appeared on the table.

“Sounds whimsical,” Francisca said. “That was not me being sarcastic this time.”

“Ahead of you, you see the spade Prince Lancer again in the distance,” Bambi said. “You see he's writing something on a wooden sign. Then he sees you, and gives you a smile.”

“I’ll go beat him up,” Francisca blurted out.

“Francisca…” Emmet began.

“What?” she replied. “I ain’t gonna kill him. Just beat him up so he knows not to mess with me.”

“Uhh, you… do that,” Bambi said. “Throw the die for combat I guess.”

Francisca did and got a decent 11.

“Huh,” she replied.

“So you… punch him,” Bambi said. “And he… uh… he lives of course. It’s like punching a soft, fluffy teddy bear, so he just smiles as he flees on his bike. He was done with the sign anyway. Wanna read it?”

“Oh I don’t think I’m done with him yet,” Francisca said. “I’ll ignore the sign and run after this juice. Uhh, did I just say juice? Man, I still haven’t gotten used to this weird censor shirt.”

“You’re gonna run after him, while he's on a bike?” Emmet asked her.

“Uhh… yeah?” Francisca said. “Susie ain't no puny human. I'm sure I can catch up in no time.”

“Let’s see what the die say first,” Bambi said.

“Alright,” Francisca said.

And so she threw, but out of it came a measly four.

“Oof, too bad,” Bambi said. “You run after him, but Lancer proves to be too fast and you miss him.”

“Shirt,” Francisca said.

“Anyway, it's your turn again Emmet,” Bambi said. “So what will Kris do now?”

“I dunno,” Emmet answered. “I guess they'll just… go to the east. Where the gate is. Like I’m supposed to.”

“Cool,” Bambi replied. “So you and me, or Kris and Ralsei rather, go to the east where until we come across the large red door. I open it up and we go through, with me closing it behind us.”

She then turned back to Francisca.

“While you keep going through the forest,” Bambi began. “You, suddenly, see a large, white cake on a table.”

“Why would there be a cake out here?” Francisca asked. “Seems fishy.”

“I ain’t telling,” Bambi said and smiled cheekily. “It’s just… there.”

“So there is a reason?” Francisca asked. “Hmm… fork it. I’m gonna bite it and check.”

With that said, Francisca grabbed the die without looking and threw it.

“I… don’t think you need to throw a die for that,” Bambi said.

“Oh, whoops,” Francisca said. 

As soon as she finished, the die stopped rolling and out came a pure 20.

“Oh that’s good,” Frisk said. “Can I keep that?”

Bambi shrugged.

“Sure,” she said. “You take a bite of the cake, and you chomp so hard that the cake spews smoke.”

A small smoke effect appeared on the table.

“Is the cake, like, made out of rocks or something?” Francisca asked no-one in particular.

“But then,” Bambi added. “The baker returns. He sees you taking a bite and yells: MAMA MIBA! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MAH CAKE?!”

The duo was once again thrown back by Bambi's sudden loudness. But then the grew more confused as the content of the words hit them. 

“Wait, really?” Emmet asked, befuddled but slightly amused. “Mama Miba? We are… really going there?”

Then, on the table, a long, plain yellow coloured figurine appeared, one whose body was in a downward triangle shape. 

“Uhh, ok?” Francisca said and smirked in amusement. “I'll try to intimidate this… blatant Italian stereotype man.”

“He's not a man,” Bambi said blankly. “He's a walking strand of pasta.”

Francisca now almost burst into laughter as she grabbed her mouth, while Emmet just starred, not sure if he should laugh along or not.

“My God,” Francisca said as she smiled. “Please tell me he has a frigging moustache.”

“Uhh, sure?” Bambi replied. 

Suddenly, a small black moustache grew on the yellow, triangle body figure on the table.

“Ok, I think you just somehow made the entirety of Italy into a single character,” Francisca said.

“I don’t understand,” Bambi said with genuine confusion. “Are you saying chefs are from Italy or something?”

“Wait, what is this character based on again?” Emmet asked.

“I based him on a chef,” Bambi replied. “This is how chefs talk right?”

“You could maybe say that,” Francisca replied. “Anyway, as I said, I’m gonna go ahead and intimidate mister Pizza Pasta here.”

“I don’t think his name is Pizza Pasta,” Bambi said, utterly confused. “I don’t really know his name.”

“Why do you talk about these characters like they’re real?” Emmet pointed out.

“Whatever,” Francisca said. “I’m gonna intimidate this guy.”

“Ok then, roll for intimidation,” Bambi said.

And so Francisca did, and out of it came a nine.

“Crab,” she said. “So close.”

“You attempt to intimidate the chef,” Bambi replied. “It’s not enough to push him away, so he sprays you with water to make you leave.”

Suddenly, Francisca’s blue undershirt got a large, wet stain on it. Then some drops of water began to leak from her hair.

“Gah, Jesus!” she exclaimed, spooked as she looked at her now magically wet palms. “Ok, what is up with the constant weird Jumanji voodoo shirt happening in this place?”

“So what are you going to do now?” Bambi asked.

“Fork it, I’m leaving this guy,” she answered. “I don’t like getting wet.”

“What are you, a cat or something?” Emmet asked.

Francisca smiled a bit in amusement.

“Never heard you make a joke before,” she said.

“Well, we just met,” Emmet said. “Besides, I think your snark is beginning to rub on me a bit.”

“Man, you sound like a friend of mine,” Francisca said. “In the real world, I mean. You’re neat too, I guess. If you’re really real that is. No offence, of course.”

“Mhmm,” Emmet replied, sounding as if he was unsure on how to reply.

"So now it's our turn," Bambi said. "You and I now find ourselves in The Fields of Hopes and Dreams."

“Ok, I’ll just keep going down the road,” Emmet said.

“Alright, you do and Ralsei follows you,” Bambi said. “Suddenly, you see a sign on the side of the road. It says Enemies ahead! You’re gonna die! Signed, Lancer.”

“Ok then,” Emmet said. 

“Suddenly, we are attacked by a single rudinn!” Bambi said with mild excitement.

A single diamond card appeared face down on the table.

“Already?” Emmet asked. 

“The heck's a rudinn?” Francisca asked.

“They are these worm soldier men working for the evil spade king,” Bambi explained. “But they themselves aren't evil though. They don't even want to fight us.”

“Ok, but then why are they fighting though?” Francisca asked.

“I dunno,” Bambi replied. “They're scared I guess.”

“In that case, I won’t fight them either then,” Emmet said.

“Erm, but they attacked you first didn’t they?” Francisca pointed out. “It’s only self-defence I’d say.”

“Whatever,” Emmet said. “So how much do I need to… convince them to go?”

“Just roll and we’ll see what happens,” Bambi said.

So Emmet did.

“A 12,” the boy said, reading from the die. “That’s a success isn’t it?”

“Sure,” Bambi said. “The rudinn is utterly swayed by your words and sees the error of his ways. They apologise, and go.”

“Well, that was easy,” Francisca said. “Kinda wished it worked like this in real life.”

“Francisca, please…” Emmet said.

“Alright, sorry,” she replied. “Gee…” 

“Francisca, it’s your turn,” Bambi then said.

So that’s how the game went for the next few minutes. Or what appeared to be minutes if anyone them could track the time in this strange, dreamlike room. Dice were thrown, banters were shared, snarks were used, and a whole lot of luck, or lack thereof, played a part. Here and there, Bambi added some fights to spice things up or read some weird and quirky signs that Lancer apparently wrote, who they also encountered here and there. Bambi and Emmet even met the character Francisca began to dub “if Italy was a single person”.

The fights on Emmet and Bambi’s side all proceeded and ended with mercy, while Francisca took a more violent approach, although according to Bambi, she never killed anyone as they all just left. Francisca liked to imagine she simply beat them to a pulp. Something she claimed she would never do in real life, but that’s how her character Susie was. Emmet began to feel unsure of that, that she was too deep in roleplaying or simply with deeply hidden, violent urges. Whatever the case, he shrugged it off, telling himself he wasn’t a psychologist or anything.

But Francisca herself also had some thoughts of the other two. The truth is, she was beginning to doubt their existence, and consider that perhaps she was the only “real” person here, so to speak. A part of her was certain that wasn’t the case but as a whole, she felt unsure.

But one thing she and Emmet both agreed on, perhaps unknowingly, was that something wasn’t right about Bambi, that she didn’t feel “constant”. So to speak. It was hard to peek into the mind of that small, supposed 7-year-old. But Bambi herself wasn’t sure about herself either. There were moments where she felt like she were two people inhabiting the same body. Yet, she felt no fear or discomfort. It was almost relaxing in a sense, like she had an invisible mother by her side, guiding her words and actions. Like a ghost, in a sense, that she shared an unbreakable bond with. The only thing she was worried about was the possibility of scaring her two new friends with this “ghost” of hers, as she realized could happen when she almost told the truth of it to them.

“Francisca, you find yourself in front of a large, stone door,” Bambi said to the older girl.

“I’ll smash it open with my fists,” Francisca simply said.

“You… can’t,” Bambi said.

“I’ll smash it with my axe?” Francisca said.

“You can’t do that either,” Bambi said.

“Then what the heck am I supposed to do?” Francisca asked.

“Well, here’s the thing,” Bambi said, looking embarrassed. “I had… uh… designed this scene with all three of us in mind. It’s a puzzle that requires all three of us?”

“Really,” Francisca said. “Huh, should have maybe mentioned something like that earlier.”

“I’m sorry,” Bambi said and smiled awkwardly.

“It’s fine,” Francisca said. “No need to apologize. So what now? Do I just wait here and-”

“No need,” Bambi said. “I and Emmet are already here.”

“Wait, really?” Francisca asked.

“Yeah,” Bambi said. “Now the great knight Kris and the fluffy boy Ralsei meet up with Susie, the violent axe.”

“Yeah, I still ain’t gonna join you guys,” Francisca said.

“Ok, why not?” Emmet asked, sounding as if he was beginning to grow tired of her.

“What do you-” Francisca began.

“Why do you not want to be with us?!” he asked. “Like… why are you trying to move away from us?!”

“I… I’m just playing a character here alright?” Francisca said. “Jesus. Can’t I be on my own here?”

“Well, I just thought this game was about co-operation,” Emmet said. “And if you’re not gonna be with us… then why even play?”

Francisca didn’t say anything. She wasn’t clear whether she was right to be insulted or not, as it seemed to her that Emmet didn’t intend to make her so.

“Emmet, no arguing,” Bambi said, sternly.

“I’m not arguing,” Emmet said with a tinge of guilt. “I’m just… nevermind. Sorry, Francisca. Just do what you want.”

“Frankly, I’m not sure you are even real here,” Francisca blurted out.

“What?” Emmet asked.

Francisca gave out a short sigh. It was like a sigh as if she was caught in a lie or contradiction, or if she was discovered doing something bad or shameful. Either way, she wasn’t in the best mood right now.

“You know what, nevermind,” she said. “I’ll join you guys now.”

“No, what did you say?” Emmet pried. “I mean… you don’t really think I’m real? That we are real?”

“I said forget it,” Francisca said, not even making eye contact. “It’s just… whatever. Let’s just continue.”

“Hooray!” Bambi said cheerfully. “Susie joins the team! Play the fanfare!”

“Don’t do that,” Francisca said.

“Oh, ok then,” Bambi said. “Is something wrong Fra-”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Francisca answered dismissively. 

“You can tell me,” Bambi said. “It’s alright to feel bad.”

Francisca didn’t answer. Then she simply laid hands on the table and stared at it intently.

“Alright, I’m on your team now,” Francisca said. “So… now what?”

“_ What is up with her _?” Emmet quietly muttered to himself.

“Uhh, now we do the puzzle,” Bambi said. “To open the door.”

“Can we skip that or…” Francisca said.

“Oh, whatever,” Bambi said. “You did the puzzle and the door is now open.”

“Great,” Francisca said.

“Now…” Bambi said and smiled deviously. “Comes a character I’ve been looking forward to.”

Emmet did not like the sudden mischievous tone in her voice.

“Oh boy,” he said.

“I was gonna save this for later,” Bambi said. “But then we- sorry, _ I _ decided to do it now, since we are all together.”

“Erm…” Francisca said, nervous as well.

“Suddenly,” Bambi began, clearly building tension. “You… encounter… and are attacked… violently… by… _ C-round _!”

A small cheeker piece with a drawn smiley face fell down on the table.

“That’s it?” Emmet asked, unimpressed.

“Huh,” Francisca said, sounding kind of let down. “This thing looks… kinda cute actually.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a hard chapter to write, to be honest. I kinda wanted to include a bit of conflict in the story, since there was one between the three DR characters, but I also wanted to make the Frisk's likable in their own way. There was also a thing with my Francisca, where I wanted to strike a balance of being a bit hostile but not too much, while also acknowledging that she isn't in the "right", so too speak, but also likable at the same time. But her "wrong choices" will appear more clearly in the next chapter, which those who played or watched DR know probably what that is, based on what Susie's does. So I decided to go with a route of her not being sure if the other two Frisks are real or just figment of her dream imagination, so she decides to experiment a bit. That was not me trying to say that the other two Frisks were "fake" or "not the real Frisk". That was also why I added the segment going into each of their minds and thoughts, and added several hints, especially towards Bambi, about what's going on with them. (those who know a bit about Katelynntheg's UT headcanons can probably guess what's up with this "ghostly presence" of hers, that sometimes takes over)
> 
> But I think I'm about half-way through now. But I'm gonna take a bit of a break on this story, as I really want to focus back on the main story, The Royal Hunt. And now that the Corona thing is going on, I suddenly have a lot more free time to write, so I'll try to make the best of it. 
> 
> Either way, I hope you enjoyed this and see you. Will I continue with this once the full version of DR comes out? 
> 
> Maybe. If it can fit nicely into my headcanons and theories, then yeah. I could do a "reunion fic" of sorts. But so far... let's just see.


	4. Chapter 4

**Dungeons and Darkners**

**Part 4**

“In the tent, you meet Seam,” Bambi began.

A large bluish fluffy teddy bear of a cat with one button eye appeared on the table.

“He’s this big fluffy… cat teddy wizard,” Bambi continued. “His eyes are like buttons, but one of them is missing. He didn’t always look like this so… I was planning to give him this backstory, where he has a wife who’s  _ really  _ nice to him and loves him very much. She’s this cat who made him his body after he… lost his old one, but I haven’t really figured out how to add it in here so… just imagine it, I guess?”

“Sounds cute,” Francisca said. 

“I still can’t believe Francisca decided to attack the checker piece,” Emmet said.

“You mean C. Round,” Bambi corrected.

“Yeah that,” Emmet said.

“Hey, first of,” Francisca began. “Susie attacked the checker piece, not me.”

“How is that different?” Emmet replied. “She is your character. It’s not like you didn’t make her do it.”

“I was just doing what she would do,” Francisca said apologetically. “Y’know? Role-playing?” 

“Whatever you say,” Emmet said quietly.

Francisca noticed his disapproval, yet she decided not to bring it up.

“Also, in my defence,” she continued. “I wasn’t expecting to roll an exact 20.”

“You could’ve, I dunno,  _ not _ attacked it?” Emmet suggested. 

“Well, erm… y-you saw that thing,” Francisca excused. “It was coming right towards us. It was self-defence on my part.”

“Hey, can you two not do this again?” Bambi asked gently. “Besides, Francisca? I think Emmet kinda has the right idea. Since we are heroes, we have the power to make a peaceful future. For all people. So from now on, maybe try not to fight, ok?”

In a way, Francisca wanted to protest her words, to debate little Bambi’s ideas in some, perhaps rude, manner. Yet, there was just something about her voice and words, some sweetness in her tone that just reached deep within the young-adult Frisk almost like a spell, and so Francisca just nodded with hesitance.

“Alright, fine,” she simply replied. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Good!” Bambi said and smiled sweetly. “But if that’s too much for you, then you can just weaken the enemy, not kill them mind you, just weaken them enough so that my Ralsei can put them to sleep with his spells.”

“Mmhmm,” Francisca replied. “That’s fair, I guess.”

Emmet felt himself sense something in her voice. Some tone that showed a sense of fear or hurt.

“Hey, is something wrong, Francisca?” Emmet asked.

“Wha- no, there is nothing wrong,” Francisca replied. “Let’s just keep playing. I feel like I’ve been in this dream or whatever for months now.”

“If you say so,” Emmet replied.

He shook that hunch from his thoughts, assuming he was simply overthinking it.

While Francisca looked over the table, her face wracked with confusion and self-doubt, Bambi proceeded to lean closer towards Emmet. Just as she did, Emmet turned to her direction and was mildly spooked by her sudden closeness to him.

“ _ Psst, Emmet _ ?” Bambi whispered. “ _ I think we might have to warn future enemies… about her _ . _ Since she’s so violent _ .”

“ _ I get you _ ,” Emmet replied.

“ _ Also _ ,” Bambi added. “ _ Is your Kris the love type _ ?  _ Because I feel like Ralsei may or may not start to feel… y’know what for them _ ?”

“ _ Y’know what for them _ ?” Emmet asked back, puzzled at what she could be hinting at.

“Hey what are you whispering about?” Francisca asked.

“ _ Oh crab _ ,” Emmet muttered.

“Erm… nothing?” Bambi said as she leaned back, face red with embarrassment.

“Just about… strategies,” Emmet said. “For this game, you know?”

“What kind?” Francisca pried.

“Erm… fighting kind?” Emmet replied with a bit of unease. 

Francisca looked at Emmet for a moment, and then towards Bambi, crossing her eyes analytically. Then she shrugged.

“Sounds fair,” she said. “I guess it doesn’t matter that much.”

“Yeah, that’s… right,” Emmet said before turning towards Bambi. “So where were we again?”

“Oh right,” Bambi said. “ _ Ahem.  _ So the three heroes find themselves in the tent of Seam.”

“So what’s this cat teddy bear thing’s deal again?” Francisca asked.

“He’s like a shopkeeper of sorts,” Bambi answered. “And a magician.”

She cleared her throat a bit.

“ **He, he, he, welcome travellers** ,” she said in an attempt at an old man’s voice.

“I’ll, uh, I guess I’ll ask him who he is,” Emmet suggested.

“Alright,” Bambi said in her normal voice.

She cleared her throat again.

“ **My name is Seam** ,” Bambi began with her older man’s voice. “ **Pronounced Shawn. And this… is my little Seap. He, he** .”

The other two looked at her for a moment, clearly a bit confused.

“Uhh…?” Francisca muttered.

“Yeah, I don’t think this joke works when spoken out loud,” Bambi said.

“What does that mean?” Emmet asked.

Bambi cleared her throat one more time, clearly ignoring Emmet’s question, either by ignoring it intentionally or because she didn’t hear it. Truth is, she didn’t know how to answer it.

“ **Over the years I’ve collected all sorts of odds and ends** ,” she continued. “That’s Seam talking by the way.”

“Yeah we got that,” Francisca said.

“Good,” Bambi said. “Ahem.  **’Course, I’ve no attachments in any of it. It’s just a hobby of mine. Around here, you learn ways to pass the time** .”

Suddenly, the little girl leaned closer on the table.

“… **or go mad like everybody else** ,” she said, sounding slightly more devious.

She smiled in evident amusement. But for the other two, it was like someone had pressed a button that completely changed the mood from charming to eerie.

“What kind of a kid are you even?” Francisca asked, taken back.

“Erm… sorry about that,” Bambi said. “I… I may have gone a bit too far there.”

“It’s alright,” Emmet said. “I’ve had worse. So… what else can he… tell us?”

“Well, he can tell you the story of Lighteners and Darkeners,” Bambi said.

“Haven’t we already heard that?” Francisca asked. “You know. From your prince guy?”

“Yeah but… this story is slightly more detailed,” Bambi said. “I had a whole page written down and everything.”

“Written down?” Emmet asked, intrigued. “Since how long have you planned this exactly.”

“When did I say I planned this myself?” Bambi asked back.

There was an evident genuineness in the tone of the question that both Emmet and Francisca noticed, that made the mood even eerier for them two.

“Uh… let’s just continue, alright?” Francisca said.

“Ok, where was I?” Bambi said. “Oh yeah. So erm… sorry, but I think I’m not gonna use that voice again. Hurts my throat. Erm, dream throat, I meant.”

“ _ Did she just call it “dream throat” _ ?” Francisca muttered to herself. “ _ That’s adorable _ .”

“So Seam tells you about how you Lighteners used to live in harmony with them Darkeners until you all vanished one day,” Bambi continued. “And then the king decided to take up arms against you because he’s angry you all left, even while some Darkeners still hold up hope of your return.”

“ _ The _ king?” Emmet noted. “I thought you said earlier there were four?”

“I’m just getting to that,” Bambi said. “So the next thing Seam tells you of is the kingdom. Four kings used to rule it, from Card Castle to the east. But one day, a strange  _ knight _ appeared, and three of the kings were locked away. But one remained, and he put himself and his son in power.”

“I’m guessing this son is the bike kid,” Francisca said. “Lancy or whatever.”

“Correct,” Bambi said. “And his name is Lancer, bee, tee, dubs.”

“But which one is Ralsei?” Emmet asked.

“Sorry?” Bambi replied like she didn’t understand the question.

“You said there were four kings,” Emmet began. “And I’m guessing from all the cards on the table that they’re all based on card suits. I’m guessing Lancer and his dad are of the Spade suit because the card you use for Lancer is a spade. But what about Ralsei then? You said he was a prince, right? Just curious is all.”

Bambi looked at him for a good few moments, crossing her eyes somehow even more than they were already. She was hard at her thoughts, yet the answer just wouldn’t come to her head.

“I… I don’t know,” Bambi then admitted.

“You… don’t know, or you haven’t thought of it?” Francisca asked.

“I mean, I honestly don’t know,” Bambi said. “Most of these ideas, they just… they just come to me is all. Honestly, I’m not certain I’m coming up with most of them myself.”

“Why not just, I dunno, make it up then?” Emmet asked. “Don’t want to be rude but… let’s just say he’s the Prince of Hearts then or something.”

“It doesn’t work that way, sorry,” Bambi said. “I appreciate your suggestions but… I’m sure it will come to me later.”

“Alright then,” Emmet replied.

He was, actually, still confused after that answer but decided to roll with it anyway.

“So anything else to ask Seam or whatever?” Francisca asked.

“Eh…?” Bambi said. “Not really.”

“Have we even introduced ourselves?” Emmet asked.

“Oh, yeah that,” Bambi said. “So what do you say.”

“We’ll tell him we are the legendary heroes of the prophecy of… whatever it was,” Francisca said.

“He just laughs at that,” Bambi said. “He doesn’t believe you.”

“Oh, so he’s an askhole?” Francisca said. “Well fork him. Let’s just leave.”

“Erm, alright,” Bambi said. “So where to next?”

“I was about to ask that,” Emmet said.

“Weren’t we going east?” Francisca said. “I thought you were controlling this game.”

“Yeah,” Bambi began. “But… I don’t want to be… overcontrolling.”

“You’re… you’re not overcontrolling,” Emmet said. “Don’t worry.” 

“ _ Not so far at least _ ,” Francisca muttered.

It was clear she had not expected any of them to hear it, to her dismay, as Emmet and Bambi both proceeded to look at her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Emmet asked.

Francisca looked at him, feeling almost like she’s being trapped into a corner.

“N… nothing,” she excused. “I was just… thinking out loud.”

“Mmm,” Bambi replied unconvinced. “I too think you’ve just said something. Is something wrong? Wanna talk about it or-?”

“Let’s just continue!” Francisca said quickly. “East, right? Let’s go east then. Let us finish with this game before this… this stranger arrives, ok?”

“A bit on edge are you?” Emmet said. 

“On edge?” Francisca replied, smiling anxiously. “Pfft, no. You’re… you’re on edge.”

“ _ That doesn’t even make sense _ ,” Emmet muttered quietly.

“Not used to talking about your problems?” Bambi asked empathetically.

“Who said I had problems?” Francisca said and laughed anxiously. “And even if I did I… I don’t have problems talking about my problems, w-whatcha talking about? Can we keep going? With the game?”

“ _ Is she losing it _ ?” Emmet thought to himself aloud.

“Hmm… alright then,” Bambi said.

Meanwhile, however, Emmet just felt confused by Francisca right now. Annoyed too, but only to an extent. Mostly, he wasn’t sure how to think about her. Was this truly supposed to be another version of him? Or was this just a dream and these other two were merely fake figments of his mind? Would that still matter? Would them not being real mean he should act any different.

“Did you say something, Emmet?” Bambi suddenly asked.

“Huh?” Emmet replied. “Oh no, I… I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so?” Bambi asked. “Alright then. So… where should we go?”

“Oh, right…” Emmet said. “Well… I know we should head east but is there is something west or…?”

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that,” Bambi said. “If you head east you meet these group of  _ Jigsawry _ , who are people who are also jigsaw puzzles.”

She pointed to a pile of blank jigsaw pieces that had formed by one side.

“What do they do?” Emmet said.

“They give you guys erm… tutorials and tips,” Bambi explained. “Even though they were made for puzzles and not tutorials, but the cruel Spade King has… removed them from that role.”

Emmet looked across the strange board for a moment, thinking. 

“Ehhh, let’s skip it,” Emmet said and shrugged. “I think I’m getting the hang of this game.”

“Fine by me,” Bambi said. “So you head down the road east. After a moment of walking, you meet Lancer again, in a small field.”

“That guy again?” Francisca asked. “I thought I told that little blue smurf to leave us alone.”

“ _ Did you just call him a smurf _ ?” Emmet asked, one eyebrow raised. 

“That… was not enough, sorry,” Bambi said to Francisca.

“Stubborn little guy, is he?” Francisca said. “Alright. What’s he up to now?”

“Give me a moment,” Bambi said. “_Ahem_. Ok, here goes. _Well, flip my flapjacks! The clowns are back in town!_ _Well, bad news! Since you last saw me several minutes ago_…_I’ve created a brand new fighting team ready to stop you_! _Not even the purple girl_(referring to your Susie, Francisca)_ can stop me now! Ho, ho, ho_!”

Francisca couldn’t help herself at that moment and proceeded to laugh softly, holding her mouth to prevent it from turning into a burst of hysterical laughter.

“God damn, what was that?!” she exclaimed. 

“That was… his evil laugh,” Bambi said. “Isn’t it scary?”

“Really?!” Francisca replied. “Cause it sounded like a baby Santa Claus.”

“You mean… you don’t like it?” Bambi asked back with a bit of disappointment.

A look of guilt washed over the older girl as she absorbed her words and tone.

“Oh, no I didn’t mean it like that!” Francisca cried out. “I mean yes- I mean- I’m so sorry kid! I… I-!”

“Jesus,” Emmet said, thrown back by her reaction. “Bit of an overreaction, isn’t it?”

“Erm… sorry I…” Francisca said and tugged her t-shirt collar. “Sorry. I really suck at expressions. Heh. Erm... Bambi? It’s not that it’s bad but… it needs a little practice I’m saying. Or not, I… I dunno.  _ Oh god. I feel like I’m losing my mind here _ .”

“Ehh… it’s alright,” Bambi said, not sure how to react. “But let’s go back to the game. So, Francisca, how will Susie proceed.”

“Well…I’ll…” Francisca continued, palm on her head. “I guess I’ll just… intimidate this clown. Like last time.”

“Alright, roll,” Bambi said.

And so Francisca did. Out of it came a 15.

“Aw fork yeah!” she exclaimed, her anxiety fading. “Now… Susie is gonna show this little kid what real scary looks like.”

There was an eerie hint of aggression in her voice, perhaps even some darkish glee as well, which made Emmet and Bambi feel slightly uncomfortable. Emmet more so, however.

“So Susie walks towards Lancer while he shakes and trembles,” Bambi said, herself growing nervous from her tale. “Once you’re, you lift him and… proceed to threaten him.”

“Imma tell him I’m gonna eat his forking face off,” Francisca said.

“Geez, Francisca,” Emmet said, surprised by her sudden brutality.

“Relax,” Francisca replied, still glaring over the board. “Susie’s not gonna- sorry,  _ I’m _ not gonna do that, y’know.”

“Erm, you tell Lancer that…” Bambi says a bit anxiously. “He… well, he trembles in your arms.”

“Good,” Francisca added, smiling. “To finish, I’m gonna laugh. Hard. Show him what a real laugh is!”

She then lowered her head and placed a palm on her mouth.

“ _ Hot dance _ ,” she muttered. “ _ When did I become such a frigging sadist _ ?”

But then, Bambi got an idea. Or maybe, as her moving mind racing to set all pieces in their proper places began considering, this story always had this idea. She smiled, inwardly, as she felt she had solved this scary dilemma.

“Well then…” Bambi said, trying to hide her devious excitement. “In that case, Lancer begins to thank you greatly.”

Francisca’s wicked grin faded as she turned to the little girl, confusion growing strong.

“Sorry, what did you say happens?” she asked, unsure if she misheard.

“Lancer thanks you!” Bambi said, smiling. “He tells you he’s grateful you showed him what a proper villain laugh is like, and then he breaks free your grasp!”

“Hey, I wasn’t-” Francisca began.

She did not finish her protest as she saw Bambi’s face. Her smile was almost hypnotic in a sense, and alongside her giant and glittery puppy eyes which were now wide open, Francisca couldn’t bring herself to argue with her.

“Then…” Bambi said, building anticipation. “Then he summons his warriors to TRASH YOU!”

Out of a sudden, she reached under the table and rose back up with several blank jigsaw pieces, before hurling chaotically them all over the table.

“Lancer then laughs again,” Bambi continued. “Properly this time. A true evil laugh, I mean. And then he bids you Merry Christmas and leaves once more.”

“Merry Christmas?” Francisca asked, confused. “Wait, what day is it? Heck, in that case, what have we even established what time it is?”

“Dunno,” Bambi said. 

“It’s October, right?” Emmet asked. “I seem to think it’s October.”

“Mmm,” Francisca replied, thinking. “Nah. That doesn’t sound right.”

“Hey, what are Kris and Susie gonna do now?!” Bambi asked. “Because a group of Jigsawrys block our way!” 

“Oh right,” Emmet replied. “Well… I’m gonna try mercy.”

“Fork that,” Francisca said. “Let’s fight back. Show them what’s for.”

“I don’t wanna kill them,” Emmet said.

“I never said we should kill them,” Francisca said. “But we should hurt them in the very least. Remind them and their king not to mess with the so-called “ _ heroes of the prophecy _ ” next time.”

“Well… you’re not much of a hero if you attack so much,” Bambi replied.

“Whatever,” Francisca replied without looking. “Agree to disagree kid.”

“Anyway, without further adieu, THE BATTLE BEGINS!” Bambi exclaimed. “Now… ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!”

“I don’t think that’s what “without further adieu” is used for,” Emmet stated.

“Oh, my mistake, but ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!” Bambi exclaimed.

With her excitement out of the way, they proceeded to roll. 

Once more, Emmet went first, Bambi second and Francisca third.

“C’mon!” Francisca exclaimed. “What are the chances?”

“First again?” Emmet said. “Well… I ain’t complaining.”

He leaned forward as he proceeded to ponder his options.

“ _ Psst, Emmet _ ?” Bambi whispered to him. “ _ Remember what I told you to do _ ? _ Regarding her _ ?”

“ _ Yeah, yeah, I got it _ ,” Emmet whispered back.

“Wait, you’re talking about me?” Francisca pried. “You know I can hear you guys.”

“N-no, we’re,  _ pfft _ , we’re not… we’re not talking about you,” Bambi said and smiled awkwardly.

Francisca eyed her suspiciously but then shrugged, assuming she just imagined it.

“Alright, if you say so, kid,” she said.

“Ok, I’ve decided,” Emmet said. “To start with, I’m… I’m going to warn the enemies about Susie.”

He rolled his dice and got a decent 10.

“Wait, seriously?!” Francisca exclaimed. 

“Yeah, I’m gonna do that too,” Bambi said and rolled as well. “The more the warning, the more serious they’ll take it.”

Her dice stopped at another 10.

“What the…” Francisca muttered. “Are you guys seriously helping the bad guys?!”

“We’re not helping them,” Emmet excused. “We’re just-” 

“Yeah, we’re helping them,” Bambi answered. “Why not?”

“Because… because they’re trying to kill us!” Francisca said, sounding baffled. 

“I’m sure they mean well,” Bambi simply answered. “Maybe they don’t want to.”

“But… but then they wouldn’t be…” Francisca began before shrugging. “Alright, fork it. I’m just gonna attack them myself with full force.”

She rolled her die and got a 12.

“Awesome!” she exclaimed. “Well, how bad is it for them?”

“Eh… not enough, sorry,” Bambi said. “You barely scratch them.”

“Seriously?” Francisca asked. “But… I got 12. That’s over the average.”

“Yeah sorry,” Bambi said. “But… since Emmet and I warned them, they were able to prepare for it. And you thus needed a higher number.”

“Oh, that is such… nevermind,” Francisca said. “It’s just a game. I shouldn’t be that angry.”

“Alright, what now?” Emmet asked Bambi. “Should I convince them like we did those worm guys, or do they work differently or something?”

“What do you think, Emmet?” Bambi asked.

“Well…” Emmet began, thinking. “I guess I can… try to get them to stop fighting.”

“That’s good,” Bambi said. “Cause they don’t wanna fight either way. Turns out they’re just scared of us. And of their king.”

“Ok then,” Emmet said. “Good to know. That ought to… make it simple then. Guess I’ll just talk.”

“Great!” Bambi exclaimed. “Now roll for charisma!”

Emmet took his dice and threw once more. As Francisca stared at the die roll on the strange cosmic table, a great doubt hit her as she began feeling slightly unsure about almost everything that was going on right now. It was like time had slowed down at this moment, as all the thoughts arranged themselves from the mess in her head. Eventually, the dice stopped, and Francisca’s thought did as well.

“A 15,” Emmet said, reading the now still dice. “That’s good, right?”

“That’s great!” Bambi said cheerfully. “You talk with them and even manage to befriend them. The Jigsawry’s look at us with a smile on their faces, and then I put them to a good night sleep with my pacify spell. We win!”

“Well,… cool,” Emmet simply said.

Bambi turned towards the older girl, a smile on her innocent-looking face.

“See Francisca?” she asked. “Battles can be won, not with violence, but with words and understanding instead.”

“Yeah yeah,” the older girl simply replied.

A moment later, the trio found themselves facing another obstacle. Other than the growing dissonance between Francisca and the other two (Or rather, between just Francisca and Emmet) a large spiked fence had formed on the table.

“Now,” Bambi began. “You found yourself in front of a locked spiky gate. Around you are also several boxes and switches on the ground.”

“So… what then?” Emmet asked.

“Let’s read the instructions!” Bambi said excitedly.

“ _ Weird thing to be enthusiastic about but ok _ ,” Francisca muttered to herself.

Bambi then reached under the table and pulled out a white paper with something written on it.

“Was this there all along?” Emmet asked.

Bambi, not knowing how to answer it, proceeded to ignore his question. She gave out one more small cough as if to prepare for a presentation.

“ _ God that’s adorable _ ,” Francisca muttered, referring to that cough.

“It says…” Bambi begins. “ _ Thoust fools, thou will never figure it out now! _ ”

She had changed her voice briefly to what could only be described as a kid’s attempt to sound pompous and or dignified. This voice change was a bit of a surprise to the other two, but not by much as Emmet and Francisca were getting somewhat used to it.

“Ruining instructions,” Bambi said. “That’s definitely against the rules.”

“Erm… yeah?” Emmet said.

“Also,” Bambi continued. “There is a P.S. which says P.S:  _ I make my own rules _ . Signed. RK.”

“So… I guess we’re meeting that guy soon,” Emmet said.

“Maaaaybe,” Bambi answered and smiled. “I am not gonna spoil.” 

“Well,” Francisca began unenthusiastically. “I’ll just climb up the spiky gate and-”

“Hold on!” Bambi interrupted. “Sorry, but I think Kris- sorry, Emmet should be the one to solve this. Or at least have the first try.”

“Why?” Francisca asked.

“Because… he’s the leader of the group,” Bambi answered.

“Really?” Francisca replied. “When did we decide that?”

“Erm… thanks, I guess?” Emmet replied, clearly surprised.

“I just assumed your character, Ralsay or whatever, was the leader,” Francisca said. “Since you’re the DM.”

“Ralsei,” corrected Bambi. “And no. He’s not the leader.”

“Then why is Emmet the leader?” Francisca asked.

Bambi did not have a proper answer to that question, once she was now thinking about it.

“Erm… because he’s the only knight in the group?” she answered and shrugged.

“Let’s just… I dunno, make it a vote then,” Emmet suggested.

“Mmm… just forget it,” Francisca said. “It’s not a big deal.”

Emmet looked at her, quietly for a moment. As if to examine her. Bambi did as well, growing worried for her.

“Are you alright?” she gently asked Francisca. “You’ve been really quiet these past few minutes.”

Francisca gave out tired sigh.

“I’ve told you like a thousand times,” she said without looking at her. “There’s nothing wrong.”

“Well… that was back then,” Bambi said. “But now? Is it because of the battle with the jigsawry’s?”

“Of course not,” Francisca said. “I’ve already mostly forgotten about that.”

“If you say so,” Bambi said. “But remember, I’m always here if you need it.”

“Alright then,” Emmet said, turning his thought to the obstacle at hand. “So… the puzzle. Well, I guess I’ll just… move the boxes onto the switches and then… that’s it.”

“Good job, Kris- I mean Emmet!” Bambi said. “Puzzle solved! The door opens!”

“ _ Dance, didn’t get to impale myself _ ,” Francisca muttered. “ _ God, what I wouldn’t do to wake up from this place _ .”

“What was that?” Bambi asked.

“Nothing,” Francisca said. “Just thinking out loud.” 

The heroes proceeded onward, with an uncomfortable silence growing between all three of them. Emmet was busy focusing on the weirdness of the place, and Bambi was busy planning the story on the spot, or maybe, absorbing or remembering the ideas. Francisca, meanwhile, was engaged in thinking. She was thinking a lot now like she usually did every day. Right now, most of her thinking was about the other girl in the room, Bambi.

Francisca wasn’t sure if she was metaphorically bewitched by her or literally, but she felt herself to be very much under her whims. Or maybe, as Francisca’s mind began to tell her, she was just under the whims of herself. Of a girl that was more or less just a dream, perhaps. She wasn’t sure what to think about this situation anymore.

What would she represent, in that case? Her innocence? Is that why she couldn’t bring herself to be one bit harsh to her? Is that why she felt a bit bad whenever she went against her wishes, despite how much she disagreed, and even despite telling herself over and over that neither of the kids was real? Or was that just her inner sympathy speaking? The type one would have towards fictional characters?

This sort of abundance of overthinking was always in her head in the waking world. Every day, every moment she was alone, her mind seemed to be continually racing, tangling itself with overanalysis’ and nonsensical rabbles simultaneously. Mostly, she was disappointed her habit of making aimless trains of thoughts, followed her into this lucid dreams as well. A mind inside a mind, she figured. Reminded her of a century-old movie she once saw a while back. What was that movie called again?  _ Insertion _ , maybe? Something along those lines, she figured. Was it Incursion? Oh yeah. It was called-

“Umm, Francisca?” Emmet asked her out of the blue. 

“W-what?!” Francisca exclaimed.

She always felt spooked from being pulled abruptly from her rambling thoughts like that. It was like a micro version of being forced awake while you’re half asleep. Then again, weren’t dreams mostly just thoughts that are-

“Sorry, can you speak up Francisca?” Bambi said. “I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Huh?” Francisca replied. “I wasn’t saying anything.”

“Yeah, you were,” Emmet replied. “You were, like, rambling on and on about dreams and some old movie I think? You were kinda loud.”

Francisca couldn’t describe the unease she felt. Did she really just say all that out loud?

“Erm, yeah you did,” Emmet answered.

“Holy forking shirt, what the fork?!” Francisca exclaimed with fright. 

“ _ They’ve been hearing my thoughts all this time _ ?!” she thought. 

“I think we have,” Bambi answered.

“Ok, can we continue the fork on?!” Francisca said, feeling sweat run down her neck. “I don’t wanna think about this right now! Heck, I don’t wanna think in general anymore! Please?!”

“Of course!” Bambi answered with her cheerful smile. “Now, where were we again? Ah, yes!”

Meanwhile, a realisation dawned on Emmet.

“ _ Wait, have I been thinking out loud as well _ ?” Emmet pondered. “ _ In that case… oh god. Am I currently saying this out loud right now _ ?”

“The three heroes find themselves all in a strange place,” Bambi began. “

“ _ Like we haven’t been already _ ,” Francisca muttered quietly.

“A long corridor with tiles of red and black,” Bambi explained. “Like a big, checkerboard.”

On the map in front of them, there appeared a long hallway following that description. 

“Neat,” Francisca said. “Very Alice in Wonderland esque.”

“ _ God, is that supposed to be like a subconscious metaphor for my life right now _ ?” she then thought to herself. “ _ Like… how in the “real” world, I fell into a hole leading to a strange land full of _ -”

“Uh… what?” Emmet asked, confused. “Subconscious metaphor? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, fork me, that’s right!” Francisca said, slightly embarrassed. “You guys can hear my thoughts. Whatever. It’s nothing.”

“Well… it’s not an intentional metaphor,” Bambi said. “I mean, I love that story though. Very relatable. But it’s fine if you-”

“Just forget it!” Francisca said. “Erm… sorry kid. I just… w-what happens next, ok?”

“Hmm,” Bambi replied, feeling unsure. “We… erm… oh! We discover that the floor is very odd. Not just because it’s shaped like a checkerboard, but because it seems to… erm… blink.”

“Blink?” Francisca asked.

“Yeah,  _ blink _ ,” Bambi reiterated. 

The trio then noticed that blinkings light began emanating from the table suddenly, seemingly on random. They then saw that, on the checkerboard, some light was indeed appearing and disappearing on some of the panels on random.

“This hallway is our next puzzle,” Bambi explained. “Step on any of the light, and you’re sent back to the beginning.”

“Another puzzle so soon?” Francisca asked. “Hmm. Alrighty then.”

“Why, you don’t like puzzles, Francisca?” Bambi asked.

“What?” Francisca replied, feeling caught off guard by that question. “No I-, sorry yes but… no as in… not that! I can dig puzzles, kid. No need to worry.”

“Then what is it?” Bambi asked kindly.

“Nothing,” Francisca excused. “As usual. It’s nothing. So, how do we proceed with the puzzle? Emmet, any ideas?”

“Oh?” Emmet began, surprised she was asking him. “I guess we’ll just… avoid the glowing panels. Or… do they hurt us?” 

“Mmm Nah,” Bambi answered. 

“Ok, in that case,” Emmet said. “I guess that means that… there is no harm in just running through?”

“Just throw a dice and see,” Bambi answered.

So Emmet did. But before he could see what he got, Bambi suddenly seemed to grow very energetic and excited.

“Great job, puzzle solved!” Bambi said.

“Already?” Francisca asked.

“But… I only got an 8,” Emmet said.

“Oh… eh, I’ll allow it,” Bambi said.

“Well, personally,” Francisca began. “You get no complaints from me kid.”

Bambi was unsure whether she should feel pleased or not from her comment, so instead, she just smiled back at her. Truth is, she kinda did decide to end this puzzle early. Whether she did it for Francisca’s case, even Bambi didn’t know for sure herself.

“Anyways,” she continued. “Now free from the clutches of the teleporting room, you walk onwards and…”

She paused for a moment as she smiled with excitement.

“Guess who you meet?” she said.

“ _ Oh boy _ ,” Francisca muttered quietly.

A single ace of spades card appears on the checkerboard, and Emmet and Francisca immediately knew what it signified

“Man, that boy is stubborn, isn’t he?” Francisca asked.

Suddenly, it was as if the room grew darker somehow, despite there not being any visible light sources anywhere. While Francisca became confused, and Emmet a bit uncomfortable, Bambi just proceeded to smile in amusement. Almost like she was behind this sudden change of mood.

“ **Ha, ha, ha** …” Bambi laughed with a surprising amount of menace. “ **So you’ve begun to cross the great board** .  **The halfway point to our castle** . ** Hmm… impressive** .  **So, it’s a shame… you won’t make it a step further** !  **’Cause my guys are about to smash you into blood** ! ** Lots of blood** !  **Splooshing blood** !  **Very gross and bad** !”

Suddenly, the young girl began to cackle and laugh. Her laugh was brief, yet effective, and the other two Frisks were thrown back by it, thinking for a moment some third, much evil version had taken over her now. But as the strange mood faded, her behaviour changed much faster, almost like on the flip of a switch.

“So how was that, Francisca?” she asked, cheerfully excited. “Was that… scary?”

“What the fork was that?!” Francisca asked, bewildered. “When did Lancer turn into the kid version of Hannibal Lecter?! Were you possessed again by a third entity or…?”

“Replaced,” Bambi corrected. “And no. Lancer just… he just wanted to be scary. To impress you.”

“Wait… to impress me?!” Francisca exclaimed

“Yeah,” Bambi answered. “Turns out, Susie scaring him actually inspired him. And now he wants to be as scary as you.”

Francisca stared at her, looking as if she couldn’t comprehend that. Emmet thought he even saw her sweat for a moment.

“Erm… that’s great,” Francisca said awkwardly. “And I mean… the new laugh isn’t that bad…and him telling us he’s gonna turn us into blood is… cool.”

It was then that Emmet was the first to notice the strange new addition on top of the cosmic table.

“But…” Francisca continued. “I don’t think that looking up to me is necessarily the best-”

“Hey, is that a bucket?” Emmet asked.

The other turned to look, and indeed, there was now a bucket on the table. A small blue bucket with a black spade logo, seemingly having come out of nowhere. Even Bambi felt confused by it, though she sort of expected something like it beforehand.

“Oh yeah,” Bambi said. “That’s… that’s to put the blood in.”

“Really?!” Francisca asked. “Man kid. that’s… that’s surprisingly dark, coming from you. And even hardcore.”

“Why thank you,” Bambi said and smiled.

“ _ Yeah, that little girl is definitely just part of my mindscape _ ,” Francisca thought out loud.

“Sorry, can you speak louder?” Bambi asked.

“Erm… nothing,” Francisca said. “Just… thought of something. I forget here and there about the… y’know?”

“Wait a minute,” Emmet began, having realised something else. “Does anyone else feel like this whole… thinking out loud thing is like, I don’t know, a recent development? Like… I don’t think it was there a few hours ago, or whatever time has passed here. Is it just me?”

The other two Frisks looked at each other. An air of eerie foreboding came over them, over all three of them. None of them hadn’t given proper thought about it til now.

“Hmm, now that you say it,” Bambi replied.

“W-what could that mean, if anything?” Francisca asked.

“Perhaps, not much,” Bambi said with optimism. “Maybe it’s just because we are growing closer together. Or maybe… maybe they’re getting closer.”

That last line gave Francisca a bit of a chill, and maybe Emmet slightly nervous, even though Bambi didn’t mean to.

“Ok, let’s just continue,” Francisca said. “I’d rather not think about all that creepy stuff right now.”

“Fine enough,” Bambi said. “So… now that Lancer has us, the legendary… erm… the legendary…”

A look of strange blankness came over the little girl as if she’s stuck in deep thoughts.

“What’s wrong?” Emmet asked her.

“Did we… ever come up with a name?” Bambi asked back. “To our group, that is?”

“Don’t think so,” Emmet answered.

“I just called ourselves the heroes of the prophecy or whatever,” Francisca answered.

“Hmm,” Bambi said, thinking. “Not sure I personally like that one. Should we come up with a name?”

“Right now?” Emmet asked.

“It’s a bit late into the game for that, isn’t it?” Francisca asked.

“No, no!” Bambi replied with another burst of excitement. “You know what? Us three should come up with new names, and vote the one we like best.”

“I’m not… I’m not good at coming up with names like that,” Emmet said.

“No problem!” Bambi said. “In that case, how about you, Francisca, and I just come up with names, and Emmet picks the one he likes the most.”

“Why should he pick?” Francisca asked.

“Because he-” Bambi began.

“Oh right, because he’s the leader,” Francisca said, a bit dismissively.

“Erm… yeah that…” Bambi answered. “ _ A…and because he’s only one not writing…  _ anyways. Let’s start writing!”

Two pens and a stack of blank note papers magically materialised on the table, but with no sound or effects signalling their arrival. Still, none of the kids felt particularly shocked by it, as if they had grown used to it.

Francisca just grabbed one pen and grabbed one note from the pile, and Bambi followed suit but took two notes instead of one.

“Now,” the little girl began. “You, Francisca, will write down your name of choice while I will write two, and then once we’re done, we’ll place the notes into the bucket.”

“Hang on,” Francisca began, confused. “Two? Why are you allowed to come up with two names, but I only one?”

“I… I think one is supposed to be from me,” Emmet suggested.

“Nah, one is from Ralsei, and the other is from Lancer,” Bambi answered. “I don’t want to leave him out.”

“Huh?” Francisca replied, sounding as if she didn’t understand a word. “You don’t… you don’t think these characters are actually real, right?”

Bambi did not hear her reply, as she was too invested in writing down the names on the two papers while humming cheerfully. 

“Sorry, were you saying something?” Bambi asked her gently.

“Nothing,” Francisca lied. “Nothing at all.”

While Emmet stood by and watched, Francisca stared down at her blank paper, note in hand.

“ _ Ok, what’s the first dumb thing that comes to my mind _ ?” she said to herself. “ _ Huh. I can say “dumb”, turns out _ .”

It did not take Francisca a long time to think of something. It pretty much came for her in an instant, and it made her chuckle. She smirked as she wrote it down onto the note, despite knowing how completely immature it would seem to her hopefully imaginary friends.

“ _ God, I’m the oldest yet the most childish person in the room _ ,” she muttered to herself. “ _ And likely the only person, but whatevs _ .”

“What did you say, Francisca?” Bambi asked.

“Just thinking out loud again,” Francisca answered dismissively. 

But her smirk faded as she read through it, her expression turning into almost a sort of disappointed realisation before she shrugged, crumbled the paper down and threw it into the bucket, trying not to think of the weirdness.

“Done!” Francisca said.

She decided not to tell about the strangeness on her note just yet, although Emmet could tell she was hiding something. Bambi meanwhile was utterly clueless.

“Ok, let’s start!” she exclaimed.

The little girl then grabbed the bucket and shook it mildly in her arms before pouring the notes into a pile on the table. Then she casually threw the bucket away behind her and it seemed to disappear into the void.

“So…you have three options, Emmet,” Bambi said, looking over the letters while. “You can call yourselves either The Legendary Heroes: The Heralds of Fun and Friendship-”

“Wow, that’s a mouthful, ain’t it?” Francisca asked.

“I mean… it’s true ain’t it?” Bambi asked. “You know? Because we’re friends. And we like to have a lot of fun.”

Francisca felt herself almost freeze solid from her words. From being genuinely called a friend. And so casually. Yet, she also felt immense discomfort in her chest. Was this dream now mocking her? Was it trying to convince her it was real? However, Francisca tried her hardest to hide those thoughts, a palm on her mouth to hide the mumbling. But it was still clear to the other two that something was wrong.

“What is it?” Bambi asked.

“I…I’m just thinking about our enemies,” Francisca said quickly. “Don’t think any of them are gonna take us seriously.”

“Then what name are you suggesting I use instead?” Bambi asked gently.

“Well, for starters, how about…” Francisca began.

The older girl stopped herself.

“Not gonna say it,” she said.

“C’mon,” Bami said sweetly. “I promise I won’t laugh.”

Francisca looked at her and sighed. She couldn’t resist her sweetness.

“How about…” she continued, embarrassed. “The F-Fun Gang?”

“Great idea!” Bambi exclaimed. “The Fun Gang it is then!”

The little girl began picking up the rest of the notes.

“As I was saying, Emmet,” she continued. “Your choices are, The Fun Gang, Lancer’s Fanclub or…”

Bambi paused a bit as she tried to make sense of the last note.

“It…” she began. “It just says $!$? Squad.”

Bambi shewed the note to the other two, and indeed, that was what’s written on it.

“Gee, I wonder who wrote that,” Emmet said sarcastically.

“Heh, I was mostly just checking if this magic censoring shirt worked on a written text as well,” Francisca excused. “Seems like it does. Oh well.”

“Hmm, ok then,” Bambi said and turned to Emmet. “So… Emmet? Which one do you wanna pick?”

“Well…” Emmet began, thinking. “I think that “The Fun Gang” sounds the best.”

“Awesome!” Bambi exclaimed with excitement. “The Fun Gang it is then.”

“I mean, it was two against one,” Francisca simply said. “Plus, I don’t actually care.”

“No, no, it’s alright,” Bambi reassured gently. “You also had a hand in that name, remember?”

“Mhmm,” Francisca simply said.

“ _ It’s perfect _ ! Lancer says,” Bambi said. “And then he leaves.”

“Let’s follow him,” Emmet suggests. 

“Good idea!” Bambi exclaimed.

And so they did. Emmet threw his dice and led the others onward. They dodged through the second set of glowing patterns until they reached what Bambi described as a small corridor. There, they met two strange living statue figures named Mr Elegance and Mr Society. These two were utterly grand in manner and speech, and along with their odd names, they looked like they would guarantee a deep and fascinating philosophical insight to our heroes. However, they were also completely and utterly insignificant in this story so they will be promptly ignored and forgotten from here on out. After that, The Fun Gang met Lancer once more.

Only, for some reason, the little Spade Prince stood utterly still, according to Bambi.

“Ok, what’s his deal now?” Francisca asked. “Why ain’t he moving?”

“Patience, Francisca,” Bambi answered.

“I’m not… nevermind,” Francisca replied.

She turned to think to herself again. This time, she tried to make sure her thoughts were as quiet as possible. 

“ _ Am I just being nice _ ?” Francisca muttered to herself. “ _ Or does this little kid have some sort of spell over me _ ?  _ Under a spell from myself _ ?  _ If that is a thing _ .  _ God _ , _ why does my mind have to be such a chaotic mess all the time _ ”

Unfortunately for her, Emmet could hear her mutters loud and clear, although he decided not to mention it. Bambi heard nothing though, as she was too busy trying to remember the words for the next part.

“ _ Hohoho _ …” Bambi said in “her Lancer’s voice”. “ _ Well, step on my boots _ .”

“ _ Who the heck says that _ ?” Francisca asked herself.

“ _ If it isn’t the Friendly Fun Gang _ ,” Bambi continued. “ _ You boys or girls better turn back while you can _ .”

“Why is that?” Emmet asked, a bit sternly.

“ _ Hohoho _ …” Bambi continued, building more anticipation. “ _ I’m simply warning you _ …!  _ Something EXTREMELY dangerous is lying ahead _ !  _ Hohoho _ !  _ It’s actually really inconvenient _ !” 

Bambi leaned closer towards the others, as they began to grow uneasy at the anticipation of what that thing could be.

“ _ Ha _ !” Bambi said, speaking in the same voice louder now. “ _ I can’t go home at all because I’m so scared _ !”

“W-what is it?” Emmet asked, a bit nervously.

“Behold!” Bambi exclaimed in her normal voice.

Then, right in front of the ace of spade card on the table, a small, yet familiar-looking red checker piece had appeared. Unsurprisingly, Emmet and Francisca were a little disappointed.

“Oh, it’s… him?” Emmet said. “It? Her?” 

“Pfft, this little guy again?” Francisca replied unimpressed. “C’mon. We kicked the shirt out of it last time.”

“You did…” Emmet corrected.

“Impersonal we,” Francisca replied.

However, unbeknownst to the two, Bambi had a bit more planned under her sleeves.

“But suddenly,” she began, building anticipation. “You see something shiny from above. You see it’s a crown. A crown is falling from above, and it falls, further and further, until it lands right on C. Rounds head.”

Then, as neither of the other two Frisks were expecting, the checker piece on the table grew to almost three sizes, and a small golden crown appeared above the drawn smiley face. 

“Ok, what the fork is happening?” Francisca asked, feeling a bit weirded out.

“Now, you are facing King Round!” Bambi exclaimed.

“King?” Emmet asked curiously. “King as in-?”

“NO TIME TO EXPLAIN, K. ROUND IS COMING AT YOU!” Bambi yelled excitedly. 

“Oh crab,” Emmet said with surprise. “Emm… what do we do?!”

“Imma go fight it,” Francisca simply answered.

“That seems like your answer to everything here,” Emmet replied.

“I know,” Francisca simply replied and grinned.

“Well, in that case, I’m gonna warn… them?” Emmet suggested. “And convince… them. If I can, that is.”

“Ok, throw,” Bambi said.

So they all did. Francisca rolled first and ended up with a decent 12, and Emmet followed with a high 15.

“Ok, erm, Francisca,” Bambi began, obviously making it up on the spot. “You hit K. Round, and it loses some health. About a hundred or so.”

“Ok, not bad,” Francisca said. “Not bad.”

“Meanwhile, Emmet,” Bambi continued and turned to the boy. “Kris tries to warn K. Round of Susie while explaining to it the value of friendship.”

“Ok, how do I do?” Emmet asked.

Bambi looked across the table as if she was reading something. Suddenly, her face turned to clear dismay. 

“Oh, no!” Bambi exclaimed. “Turns out that K. Round doesn’t seem to understand you, Emmet! Doesn’t understand us!”

“Really?!” Francisca exclaimed with a growing thrill. “Perfect!”

“And now it attacks!” Bambi said. “ROLL FOR DEFENSE!”

Emmet rushed to grab the die and shook wildly, hiding his anxiety while Francisca followed suit. Fortunately for them, their rolls both ended with success.

“Ok, good,” Bambi said. “So K. Round tries to strike us with its attack called Star Kick. It kicks and stars come out of its big legs and thighs.”

“Big legs and thighs?!” Francisca exclaimed and chuckled a bit. “It attacks by shooting stars from its, and I quote, big legs and thighs?!”

“Yeah, I… kinda got the idea of that attack from someone I know,” Bambi confessed.

“Someone… you know?” Francisca asked, confused yet intrigued. “God dance. Are you now my inner horniness or something? Wait. If you’re a child, then… oh god. I don’t like the possible subconscious implications of that.”

“Erm, no?” Bambi asked, starting to feel very confused. “Anyway, you dodge and defend from its big legs and thighs very well, losing no health in the process.”

Francisca tried to hold in her chuckle.

“ _ God,  _ “ _ big legs and thighs _ ” _ sounds like some sort of horny Dr Seuss book _ ,” she muttered under her palm.

“W-what do I do now?” Emmet asked, a bit anxiously. “I don’t wanna kill them.”

“Think Emmet!” Bambi said intensely. “There has to be a way for mercy!”

“Yeah, beat the crap out of it!” Francisca said excitedly, her smile on the verge of maddening.

Emmet stood by, frantically thinking. All of it felt so real to him. This whole game felt real, and thus his anxiety felt only worse for it.

But he tried not to think of that now. He knew his thoughts were audible as mumblings to them, but he didn’t care about that either as he rushed through every corner of his mind.

“_So the checker piece thing has a crown_,” he muttered. “_A crown that seems to give… it… it’s power._ _But how can I remove it without attacking too hard_?”

“Man, I think this game is starting to get good!” Francisca exclaimed. “Alright, time to hit that schmuck again.”

“Then… roll,” Bambi said with unease.

The little girl was starting to grow a bit uncomfortable towards the older one’s attitude now, but she decided to play along for now at least. 

“Fork yeah, 20!” Francisca exclaimed as she read her throw. 

“You, erm, hit K. Round very hard,” Bambi said. “It is… very hurt.”

“Oh, shirt!” Emmet said with a bit of urgency. “Ok, erm…”

Suddenly, Emmet finally had an idea. He thought it a pretty dumb idea, and he figured it only came to him in desperation. But it didn’t feel that far off from how the game was played, so he thought he might at least try.

“I’m gonna… bow,” he suggested. “Bow courteously.”

“Pfft, your move,” Francisca said dismissively.

“Ok then,” Bambi said. “Your Kris bows. And then K. Round bows back.”

Suddenly, Bambi gasped in excitement.

“That’s it!” she exclaimed. “We should bow, Emmet! Bow and make K. Round bow back until the crown falls off, and they will surely turn back into a little guy!”

“Yeah, that… that was my idea,” Emmet said.

“Really?” Francisca said, surprised and befuddled. 

“Yeah!” Bambi said. “You should join along! Bow with us Susie- I mean, Francisca!”

“Nah,” Francisca said. “I’ll make it come off my way. By smashing its face! And its big legs and thighs!”

“Ok, let’s… agree to disagree,” Bambi said. “But either way, K. Round strikes again. This time, it is gonna try jumping on us with its Stomp attack.”

“Jumping?” Emmet asked. “Well, alright-”

“HURRY UP AND ROLL TO DODGE!” Bambi yelled out with excitement.

“Ok, geez!” Francisca said and rolled. “Don’t need to yell all the time, y’know?”

Unfortunately, none of the Frisks got a double-digit number.

“Well dance,” Francisca said. 

"So K. Round jumps and jumps," Bambi began. “It jumps until it manages to land on all of us, and…” 

She rolled the die and got a high 16.

“Ouch!” Bambi exclaimed, wincing as if in pain. “K. Round hits us all for a lot of damage.”

“How much?!” Emmet asked.

“Like… a lot,” Bambi simply answered.

“How high is “a lot of damage”?” Francisca asked.

“I dunno,” Bambi said. “I guess maybe… one hundred?”

“One hundred?!” Francisca exclaimed. “But that means… it’s taken like half my health so far. And I’m the tank. I’m supposed to be made of health! Ok, fork that. I’m gonna push harder on it. Do I have some abilities? Something to kick it’s… you know what, harder?”

“Well… you have an attack spell called “Rude Buster”, but-” Bambi said. 

“Sounds awesome, Imma use that!” Francisca said without hesitation.

“Erm, alright then…” Bambi said, unsure how to feel now. “Roll.”

Francisca grabbed the die and threw with an unnerving amount of passion gleaming on her face.

“Fork yeah, another 20!” she exclaimed happily. “God dance, I’m on a roll! No pun intended.”

“Eh… Susie strikes K. Round with the Rude Buster,” Bambi explained. “It hits it down to… less than a third of its health.”

Cracks were suddenly beginning to form on the large checker piece on the table.

“Yes!” Francisca blurted out with hype. “Almost there!”

“Ok, erm, should we bow again, Bambi?” Emmet asked quickly.

“Of course!” Bambi answered. 

The two younger kids grabbed their dices and rolled, first Emmet, then Bambi. The dices stopped as 17 and 16 respectively.

“Alright!” Bambi said happily. “So Kris and Ralsei bow deeply to K. Round. It bows back to us as a sign of respect, and without our combined effort, the crown loosens greatly.”

“Ok, sounds good,” Emmet said.

He only now noticed his hands were trembling slightly from stress. He didn’t expect to get this invested in it. He figured it was maybe another strange effect from the game like the sensation from running and falling at the start or the water manifesting on Francisca’s shirt after her character was sprayed.

“K. Round is gonna attack again this turn,” Bambi said.

“ _ Wait, it can do something else _ ?” Francisca thought to herself.

“This time, its gonna use its Charged Stomp attack,” Bambi continued. “An upgrade from its normal stomp, since its normal stomp attack was not enough. NOW ROLL!”

The other two rushed to grab their dices and rolled. Unfortunately, it turned out to be pretty lacklustre this time, being a 4 and 3.

“Fork…” Francisca blurted out.

“Oh no!” Bambi said. “K. Round stomps around the room and… it hits our health down near the bottom.”

“ _ Was it my shaking hands _ ?” Emmet asked himself quietly.

“The crown is now about 70 per cent loose!” Bambi said excitedly. “C’mon, Emmet! We can do it, ROLL!”

With adrenaline pumping in their veins(assuming, of course, they even had physical bodies in this place) the kids proceeded to throw. Even though neither of them wanted to openly acknowledge it, Francisca and Emmet were now in a race. A race to end it their ways, through violence or actions. 

Emmet dice was the first to stop. A decent 10 came out of it.

“ _ Ok, that seems good _ ,” he thought with optimism.

But then Francisca’s dice stopped afterwards, and his nervousness returned once he saw its number.

“Fork yeah, 18!” Francisca exclaimed. “Not another 20, but still pretty good.”

“S-sorry Emmet,” Bambi said and smiled apologetically. “But since you got less than a 15… K. Round has a chance to counter the bow.”

“ _ Oh no _ ,” Emmet muttered. “Bambi, help me bow then.”

“Eh, sorry Emmet,” Bambi said. “But we’re low on health so… I gotta heal us.”

“Hmm ok then…” Emmet said, disappointed but understanding.

Bambi grabbed her dice and rolled. Once it stopped, she almost gasped with joy as she saw the perfect number.

“Wow, 20!” Bambi exclaimed with a thrill. “Oh, sorry, ahem. Don’t think I’ve ever gotten a 20. I think I now know how you feel, Francisca.”

“Thanks,” Francisca said and smiled back

“ _ Why are you cheering her _ ?” Emmet muttered quietly.

“Now for K. Round,” Bambi said.

Without saying another word, Bambi grabbed her dice and rolled.

“Oof!” Bambi said. “K. Round rolls a 15. Kris’-sorry,  _ our _ bow fails.”

“Fork yeah,” Francisca said.

“Well… dance,” Emmet blurted out.

“So Kris bows,” Bambi began, her voice sounding worried. “And fails. Meanwhile, Ralsei heals the group by one third and Susie attacks K. Round with a heavy strike, putting it down to… less than a hundred HP.”

“Less than a hundred?!” Emmet exclaimed.

More cracks grew, covering the checker’s still smiling face. The piece now looked like it was fragile enough to break from a simple touch.

“Oh, crab, what do we do Bambi?!” Emmet asked with urgency. “Francisca is about to kill it next turn!”

“I… I don’t know…” Bambi answered, not with worry but with disappointment.

“Can you maybe, I dunno, heal it?!” Emmet suggested.

“I’m sorry Emmet,” Bambi said. “But I don’t have enough TP for it.”

“Sorry kids,” Francisca said. “You win some, you lose some. But if it’s any consolation, I am not exactly planning on killing it. Or at least not intentionally, so if it goes wrong… you know.”

“Great, that definitely makes it better,” Emmet said sarcastically and sighed.

“Hmm, there must be something,” Bambi said thoughtfully. “I swear there is. Maybe-”

Suddenly, the little girl’s eyes opened and lit up as she remembered a brilliant idea. A simple, relatively quaint one, but one she had hidden in her mind just in case of emergencies like these.

“Of course!” she exclaimed with great joy. “How could I forget?!”

“F-forget what?” Francisca asked, her excitement waning as she noticed Bambi’s happy tone. 

“K. Round, realising its very hurt begins to grow stressed,” Bambi explained. “But thankfully, it had decided to bring along with it a special item this morning. And now its gonna use its turn to drink it.”

“Wait, what?” Emmet asked, confused at where she was going.

“So now K. Round reaches into its item inventory,” Bambi said, smiling at her plan. “And pulls out a full cartoon of… almond milk!”

“Almond… milk?” Emmet asked with a puzzled look.

“Sorry, what did you say?” Francisca asked, now just confused. “Cause I thought you said almond milk.”

“It did,” Bambi began. “He opens up the cartoon, and drinks the milk, healing itself by 300 HP!”

“Wait what?!” Emmet said, feeling his determination return back.

“Oh c’mon, seriously?!” Francisca exclaimed. “Oh, now that’s just cheating.”

The cracks on the checker piece now faded away, leaving it looking almost as clean as when it first appeared. 

“Emmet, let’s finish it,” Bambi said, smiling.

“Oh no you don’t,” Francisca said determinedly. “I still have a turn, remember?”

“I know,” Emmet answered sternly.

“Alright, Rude Buster turn 2, coming up-” Francisca began.

“Hold up!” Bambi said. “You don’t have the TP for it.”

“What the heck is… whatever,” Francisca said. “Just a normal attack then.”

“I’m ready,” Emmet said.

They all eyed each other intensely like cowboys in a standoff before they both rushed to grab their dies. They shook and shook, and watched their shaking hands with intensity Finally, they threw their dices in unison. The dies rolled and rolled, and the Frisks all looked nervously on, a pit growing in all their stomachs. Then the dies stopped. Francisca’s stopped at 1, Emmet’s at an 11… and then Bambi’s at 18.

“Yes!” Emmet exclaimed in relief.

“God da… whatever,” Francisca said and sighed. “Just a game.”

“Great, but It’s not over yet, Emmet!” Bambi said. “Remember, since you only got an 11, that means K. Round has some chance to resist.”

“Oh?” Francisca said, her enthusiasm returning as she turned to look with intrigue.

“Susie strikes K. Round with her axe,” Bambi said with nervous anticipation. “But only bruises it a little bit. Meanwhile, Kris and Ralsei bow deeply to K. Round once more, and then…”

She rolls the dice one more time onto the table. The dice for K. Round, and hopefully the last, in Emmet’s and Bambi’s case. It rolls around intently, seemingly never stopping. They all three stared at it instantly, as if their glare would have a major effect. At last, it stops. Standing still, the dice says 1.

“And HIS CROW LOOSENS!” Bambi yelled happily. “It falls off!”

“Yeah!” Emmet cried out with relief. “Finally.”

“Oh well…” Francisca simply said.  _ “Healing itself from almond milk, what _ ?”

“Due to the combined bowing of Kris and Ralsei,” Bambi explained, a bit calmer now. “The crown falls off much quicker, and so K. Round loses its power, turning back into the small C. Round. Then it smiles happily as it rolls away into the distance.”

As she told the story, the checker piece on the table seemed to mimic every step she told, down to shrinking down to its old size before vanishing into the distance. Whatever their personal views were on it, the trio had a feeling they wouldn’t encounter it again any time soon.

“Yay, we did it!” Bambi exclaimed.

“Mmhmm,” Francisca said, clearly disappointed. “We… sure did.”

“ _ No thanks to Francisca _ ,” Emmet muttered to himself.

Francisca looked at the young boy, having heard that fully.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked him.

Emmet looked away, didn’t answer.

“Erm… Francisca?” Bambi began. “I think he means-”

“You know what I meant,” Emmet said after a while

“Do I?” Francisca asked.

Emmet turned to her, looking clearly unhappy with her.

“Erm, yeah,” Emmet said a bit feistily. “I mean, all you do is attack and make it harder for us. Why is your solution in this game to just attack everything in sight?”

“I’m just expressing myself, ok?” Francisca replied. “That’s what’s this game is about, right?”

“By… attacking and killing everyone?” Emmet asked.

“Wha- no!” Francisca said. “Of course not. I’m not killing anyone. Just being aggressive, that’s all. That checker thing was attacking us. It’s fair defence.”

“I mean, it’s not just this guy,” Emmet stated. “There was also the deal with the baker. Why terrorize him for example.”

Francisca realised she did not know the answer to that question herself.

“Because… that’s what Susie would do?” she answered awkwardly.

She didn’t even believe the answer herself. No one in the room did. And seeing Emmet’s unconvinced look, made the older girl turn to the only other kid in desperation.

“C’mon, back me up here, Bambi,” Francisca asked. 

But Bambi didn’t want to do that. Even though the little girl had grown to like the older one, Bambi realised she had to be honest.

“I’m sorry, Francisca,” Bambi began. “But Emmet is right. You… didn’t help at all. You only made it worse.”

“What?!” Francisca asked. “Are you for real!”

“If you didn’t attack C. Round the first time,” Bambi continued. “You… we could have avoided that entire battle.”

“Well sorry kid,” Francisca said, almost dismissively. “It’s not like it wasn’t attacking us. It’s not like I was keeping it at bay.”

“It’s not just that,” Bambi continued. “You also… you also terrorised those troops from before.”

“They were enemies,” Francisca added. 

“And then there was the cake you destroyed,” Bambi added.

“Well… cakes are also my enemies,” Francisca excused badly.

Bambi looked at her, her large and bright eyes open and showing disappointment.

“Francisca…” she said gently. “You want to be a hero, right? Well, heroes are supposed to be… heroic. You should be better and encourage others to be so as well, even our enemies.”

“Wait,” Francisca began. “So if I’m a hero… does that mean that I can’t attack anyone?”

“Not really,” Bambi said gently. “Heroes don’t do that. Everyone has their reasons, even those trying to fight us. Now if you want to be a hero. Then maybe… can you try being one?”

Francisca didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t bring herself to argue with her. With the little girl, despite feeling like she wasn’t giving her much choice in this game. But it was just a game, wasn’t it? Then why was she so invested? Why did she feel like this little game they were playing was real? And if this was a dream, then why did she have this little voice telling her these two kids were real as well?

Then again, a part of Francisca was growing towards Bambi’s suggestions. She agreed to a certain extent that being good to your enemies is rewarding in its own right. Maybe she should be a bit friendlier, perhaps relax more. But if they weren’t real, then why would it matter? Why bother playing nice to what was simply her dream imagination, especially since she would most likely forget all of this once she woke up?

Maybe, this little girl her was subconscious talking to her. Like the ones she occasionally had when doing an evil playthrough of a game. That’s when something hit her. What if this wasn’t a dream? What proof did she have? Then again, why was she so adamant, so  _ stubborn _ in that idea, especially since her grasp on the world was being challenged in the real world? What if she was just telling herself that… perhaps… just to refuse this new reality? Was this her mind’s way of fighting things that didn’t fit her grasp on a singular existence and thus entering a sort of denial mode? She thought about it for a few moments more, even though it felt like hours worth of thoughts and ponderings. 

But her refusal grew dominant. It had grown thus for the past hours of being in this strange place. This place, these children, and this game… were a dream, she thought to herself. They didn’t matter. None of this mattered in the slightest. It was all in her head.

And since it was so, why not try pushing it to its limits at the very least? Test how far her will would go. How far would she go… to be someone else? This Susie? What if this dragon lady could be her… dark side.

She looked across the table, leaning forward with her hands on the edge, thinking of what to do next. Bambi didn’t think much of it, while Emmet did not like the look of her. He felt like something was going to happen. He felt a bit nervous and considered maybe warning Bambi ahead of time.

“Hey, Francisca?” Emmet said, slightly worried and regretful. “Sorry for being so hostile. Lost my cool there, but… is everything alright? You’ve just been standing there, mumbling for like a minute or two.”

Having finally decided, Francisca looked up towards the other two Frisks and shrugged.

“Fork it,” she said, smiling deviously. “I’m with the “bad” guys now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, I'm starting to think I may need an editor or 2. Maybe more. Much more.
> 
> Either way, here is Dungeons and Darkners Part 4. After many months and several delays, it finally returns, with what I think is the longest chapter so far.
> 
> Frankly though, I'm not sure how to feel about it right now. I will give it a bit of a thought and then give a more detailed description in the future.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a short crossover fic I've had brewing in my mind a bit. (Although, if my definition of short includes what might be the entire Darkworld part of Deltarune Chapter 1 from start to finish, plus a few bonus touches here and there, I might have to work on my vocabulary a bit)  
It came about when I was thinking one day about how many artists and writers have such wide interpretation of what should be in most fiction be the most basic character. The main protagonist. Unlike most named protagonists in any fiction, Frisk themselves has no true interpretation in their backstory or even character, which might come across in many cases as a negative, but in my opinion, is a brilliant part of Undertale, a game which I personally feel a big theme is "interpretation."  
Frisk can practically be anyone or anything. They could be a boy, a girl or even genderless. They could be young, a teen or a 70-year-old Asian midget. So with this enigma of a protagonist, there is obviously room for interpretation and speculation, and what would be greater speculation but a crossover? (Yeah, that sounded better in my head)
> 
> So in non-canonical special of The Shattering AU, Frisk meets Frisk and Frisk in this crossover between my Francisca, Katelynnthegs Frisk "Bambi" Kikiyama, and Killb94s Frisk "Emmet" Bergman. I picked these two because they are two of my favorite fan artists from the-cursed-land-that-no-mortal-shall-dare-wander-lest-they-lose-all-hope-for-mankind, AKA Deviantart. Ok, one of them is a favorite artist of mine. The other one I hat- uhh, I mean lightly tolerate- I mean greatly tolerate. I'm gonna leave you guessing which one that is. (hint, their username starts with a K)
> 
> And why the premise of them playing an RPG in general? Well it's based on this lovely art by Katelynntheg https://www.deviantart.com/katelynntheg/art/ut-and-dr-The-Two-Storytellers-796849543 
> 
> Speaking of, here are the Frisks in question:
> 
> Frisk "Bambi" Kikiyama  
https://www.deviantart.com/katelynntheg/art/Lookit-This-Tiny-Tiny-Chibi-Child-800510880
> 
> Frisk "Emmet" Bergman  
https://www.deviantart.com/killb94/art/The-Bergmans-811107324
> 
> There is no art of my Francisca unfortunately (god, it feels creepy to refer to her as "my Francisca") but I would love to see some art of her.


End file.
